Final Assembly and Experimental Qualification of the 7T ALPHA Bitter Magnet

A Bitter electromagnet under the designation Adjustable Long Pulsed High-Field Apparatus (ALPHA) has been designed and is nearing completion at the Dusty Plasma Laboratory (DPL), at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). Qualification of the magnet is underway and initially consists of LCR and magnetic field profile measurements. Final assembly of ALPHA’s core which includes mounting it on a rotatable support structure, is discussed. Details of the bearing lock mechanism for ALPHA’s rotating support structure are also presented. Preliminary low power experiments with a small insertable chamber are underway and aim to explore Paschen breakdown in the presence of a magnetic field and with varying electrode configurations. A basic Nagoya type III antenna and its impedance matching circuit are discussed and proposed as an alternate method of RF plasma generation at DPL. Finally, concepts for instrumentation and gas system integration within ALPHA’s bore are discussed.