Production of a Very Quiescent Plasma in "Skipping" Magnetic Fields

A very quiescent helium plasma, with density fluctuations of less than $0.2%$, is produced by applying the stabilizing field of permanent magnets. The steady-state plasma column created in this field, which is of the average minimum-B type, not only proves to be extremely quiescent but also has a homogeneous density distribution in the axial direction (ΔnnΔz≈2×10^-3 cm^-1). The plasma has a density of 5×{}10¹⁰ cm^-3; the electron temperature is about 7 eV.