• Accepted Paper

Energy-resolved afterglow confinement of 0.4 MeV electrons in a 110 GHz superconducting mirror

J. Pizzo, D. Yakovlev, J. K. Anderson, S. Frank, B. Biswas, M. Yu, E. Claveau, D. Endrizzi, Yu. Petrov, K. Sanwalka, D. A. Sutherland, and C. B. Forest

Phys. Rev. Lett. - Accepted 14 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/7bh1-v73z

Abstract

The Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror (WHAM) extends mirror electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) to 110 GHz by applying up to 0.5 MW across the 3.93 T fundamental resonance using high-field-side X-mode launch. The heating produces a strongly anisotropic population of electrons with energies reaching 0.4 MeV that remain confined for seconds after a 10 ms heating pulse. The energy-dependent onset of hard-x-ray losses is consistent with classical pitch-angle diffusion into the mirror loss cone. Diamagnetic measurements show that the long-lived population carries appreciable perpendicular pressure, while its axial distribution and CQL3D/GENRAY modeling support a sloshing-electron distribution localized near the ECRH resonance. These results demonstrate the generation and classical confinement of pressure-carrying energetic electrons in a compact axisymmetric superconducting mirror, with applications in future tandem mirror reactors.

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