An introduction to magnetic confinement in toroidal devices
Lise-Marie Imbert-Gerard
University of Arizona
The talk will begin with the basic concept of fusion reactions, the idea of plasma confinement, and a brief discussion of fusion experiments. It will then highlight the key challenge involved in the mathematical modeling of fusion plasmas, as well as the coupling between electromagnetic fields and charged particles which constitutes the basis of magnetic confinement. To introduce the concept of toroidal device, a simple model will describe single particle motion in a prescribed magnetic field. A further illustration of the twisting of magnetic field lines will then lead to the introduction of the tokamak and stellarator concepts.