Feedback stabilization of the axisymmetric instability of a deformable tokamak plasma

The paper presents an analysis of the magnetohydrodynamic stability of the axisymmetric system consisting of a free boundary tokamak plasma with non-circular cross-section, finite resistivity passive conductors, and an active feedback system with magnetic flux pickup loops, a proportional amplifier with gain G and current carrying poloidal field coils. A numerical simulation of the system when G is set to zero identifies flux loop locations which correctly sense the plasma motion. However, when certain of these locations are incorporated into an active feedback scheme, the plasma fails to be stabilized, no matter what value of the gain is chosen. Analysis on the basis of an extended energy principle indicates that this failure is due to the deformability of the plasma cross-section.