Wall Confinement Technique by Magnetic Gradient Inversion

When a plasma is subjected to a transversal magnetic field and its Hall parameter is non-negligible, it weakens the local electric conductivity value. If an electric discharge is created near a wall and the magnetic field decreases with distance, the electric discharge will follow a path that minimises the streamer's electric resistance, which could expel it far from the wall. One solution to ensure that it remains up against the wall is by inversion of the magnetic field's gradient by arranging that field B be minimal at the wall. In the experiment we are presenting, effected in a low-density gas, in order to obtain a high value for the Hall parameter using simple permanent magnets, we will show the remarkable efficiency of this parietal confinement method and present the main lines of the programme of which this experiment forms part and whose successful realization will be the demonstration of the feasibility of the displacement of disk-shaped MHD aerodynes at supersonic speed without creating either shock waves or turbulence, an approach that we have already set out in numerous publications.