Helical plasma configuration with pitch reversal

A new high-shear, helically-symmetric pinch configuration with pitch reversal has been studied. Pitch reversal may arise from axial or translational transform, induced by an external helical winding and analogous to rotational transform, as well as from plasma paramagnetism. Like the reversed-field pinch (RFP), this configuration is particularly favourable for MHD stability at high plasma beta. Unlike the RFP, translational-transform pitch reversal is nearly independent of current profiles and does not tend to diffuse away.