Plasma confinement in a levitated magnetic dipole

Plasma confinement in the field of a levitated dipole offers many advantages for magnetic fusion. MHD stability is obtained from compressibility which utilizes the large flux tube expansion of a dipole field. Such a device could be high beta, steady state, and exhibit good confinement properties. The large flux expansion will ease the difficulty of the divertor design. The configuration is ideal for electron cyclotron heating and controlled convective flow patterns may provide a mechanism for fueling and ash removal.