Producing a compact long-lived plasma formation

A method of producing compact long-lived plasma formations (plasmoids) is described. The method is based on the effect of capture of a high-current relativistic electron beam under conditions of significant overcompensation of space charge of the beam by positive background ions. Requirements are formulated which are placed on the parameters of a plasma-beam system for the realization of this method, and numerical estimates are given of the overall electric charge and energy content of the electron component of a plasmoid. The dynamics of forming a plasmoid are investigated experimentally.