page_title: Reversed field pinch
hierarchical_section_title: Reversed field pinch
caption_attribution_description: The q-profile of a reversed field pinch
context_page_description: A reversed-field pinch is a device used to produce and contain near-thermonuclear plasmas. It is a toroidal pinch which uses a unique magnetic field configuration as a scheme to magnetically confine a plasma, primarily to study magnetic confinement fusion. Its magnetic geometry is somewhat different from that of the more common tokamak. As one moves out radially, the portion of the magnetic field pointing toroidally reverses its direction, giving rise to the term reversed field. This configuration can be sustained with comparatively lower fields than that of a tokamak of similar power density. One of the disadvantages of this configuration is that it tends to be more susceptible to non-linear effects and turbulence. This makes it a useful system for studying non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics. RFPs are also used in studying astrophysical plasmas, which share many common features.
  The largest Reversed Field Pinch device presently in operation is the RFX in Padua, Italy. Others include the MST in the United States, EXTRAP T2R in Sweden, RELAX in Japan, and KTX in China.
context_section_description: A reversed-field pinch (RFP) is a device used to produce and contain near-thermonuclear plasmas.  It is a toroidal pinch which uses a unique magnetic field configuration as a scheme to magnetically confine a plasma, primarily to study magnetic confinement fusion. Its magnetic geometry is somewhat different from that of the more common tokamak.  As one moves out radially, the portion of the magnetic field pointing toroidally reverses its direction, giving rise to the term reversed field.  This configuration can be sustained with comparatively lower fields than that of a tokamak of similar power density.  One of the disadvantages of this configuration is that it tends to be more susceptible to non-linear effects and turbulence.  This makes it a useful system for studying non-ideal (resistive) magnetohydrodynamics.  RFPs are also used in studying astrophysical plasmas, which share many common features.
  The largest Reversed Field Pinch device presently in operation is the RFX (R/a = 2/0.46) in Padua, Italy. Others include the MST (R/a = 1.5/0.5) in the United States, EXTRAP T2R (R/a = 1.24/0.18) in Sweden, RELAX (R = 0.51/0.25) in Japan, and KTX (R/a = 1.4/0.4) in China.
caption: The q profile in a reversed field pinch
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