Overview of Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory Research

We present an overview of recent and ongoing research projects at the Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory, a multi-device collaborative research facility supporting experiments in basic, astrophysical, and fusion plasma science. Recently on MST, tokamak operation has been demonstrated with toroidal field up to 0.24 T and higher temperature compared to the 0.13 T field available previously. Fluctuations and radiative collapse events are studied in non-disruptive tokamak plasmas far above the Greenwald density limit. Stochastic heating of impurity ions to several times the electron temperature is studied in ultra-low-q plasmas. High frequency magnetic fluctuations ranging up to f_ce driven by runaway electron kinetic instabilities are studied in low-density tokamak plasmas using an internal B-dot probe. Initial results of compact toroid injection into tokamak plasmas are presented, as well as oscillating-field current drive experiments in RFP plasmas using a novel programmable power supply system. On the BRB, the onset of fast reconnection is observed in a mini-magnetopause, initiated by a topological bifurcation in the separatrix surfaces. Experiments injecting collimated, magnetized jets show different propagation speeds depending on background plasma conditions. Reconnection experiments utilizing a guide field exhibit signatures of pressure anisotropy and a diamagnetic shift in the current layer position. A system to drive a rotating magnetic dipole is installed on a test chamber in preparation for future experiments to generate a plasma wind on the BRB.