Transport Scaling from C-2 to C-2W Field-Reversed Configuration Experiments

In TAE Technologies’ current experimental device, C-2W (also called “Norman”)\footnote{H. Gota et al., \textbf{Nucl. Fusion 59}, 112009 (2019)}, record breaking, advanced beam-driven field reversed configuration (FRC) plasmas are produced and sustained in steady state utilizing variable energy neutral beams (15-40 keV, total power up to 20 MW), advanced divertors, end bias electrodes, and an active plasma control system. New data on the plasma confinement from the C-2W experiment will be presented and interpreted by an improved fidelity model, focusing on confinement variation as a function of both machine and plasma parameters. Experimental confinement times have been collected from TAE Technologies’ C-2, C-2U and C-2W FRC experiments. Previous work has identified collisionality ($1 / {\nu *}$) as a strong predictor of electron heat confinement. The emerging electron energy confinement time appears to be proportional to a positive power of the electron temperature\footnote{M.W. Binderbauer et al., \textbf{AIP Conf. Proc. 1721}, 030003 (2016)}, which may ultimately enable advanced fuel fusion concepts.