In fusion power research, the Z-pinch, or zeta pinch,'s a type of plasma confinement system that uses an electrical current in the plasma to generate a magnetic field that compresses it (see Pinch). The name refers to the direction of the earliest experimental devices in England, where the current flowed down a vertical quartz tube, the Z-axis on a normal mathematical diagram. Physics The Z-pinch's an application of the Lorentz force, in which a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field ex… (More on Z-pinch)