A 1.21 GW Pulsed Power System for a Magnetized Coaxial Plasma Gun

TAE Technologies operates C-2W (also called "Norman"), where an advanced beam driven field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasma is generated and sustained by variable energy neutral beams, edge biasing and active plasma control. As particle confinement time is shorter than the FRC discharge, refueling is necessary. Therefore, newly developed magnetized coaxial plasma guns (MCPG) where counter-helicity spheromak merging generates a high-flux FRC have been investigated for use in FRC fueling and re-fluxing. Additionally, three pulsed power circuits with parameters of 1.21 GW & 250 kA, 6 MW & 5 kA, and 7 MW & 2 kA have been designed to power the electrode discharge, toroidal flux magnet and pre-ionizing plasma source, respectively. With the newly developed MCPG and power supplies, FRC's with ∼7 mWb of toroidal flux have been generated, with an ongoing experimental campaign for further improvement. The present results represent more than a tenfold increase over the previous generation design.