Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment

The Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment (SSPX) is a program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States established to investigate spheromak plasma.

A spheromak device produces a plasma in magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium mainly through self-induced plasma currents, as opposed to a tokamak device which depends on large externally generated magnetic fields. The series of experiments examines the potential for a spheromak device to contain fusion fuel. According to a 1999 abstract,

The Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment, SSPX , will study spheromak physics with particular attention to energy confinement and magnetic fluctuations in a spheromak sustained by electrostatic helicity injection.

• Magnetohydrodynamics
• Magnetic helicity
• Magnetic reconnection
• Turbulence

• Science@Livermore - Press release
• Fusion Energy Program publications
• The Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment: A Short Overview at the Wayback Machine (archived September 17, 2006)
• Romero-Talamas, Investigations of Spheromak plasma dynamics, Ph.D. thesis
• Selected abstracts:
  • Romero-Talamas, Spheromak formation and sustainment studies
  • Wang, Large-amplitude electron density
  • Hooper, Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment