A plasma liner is a device used to confine and compress a plasma in order to study its properties or to achieve fusion. The first successful implementation of such an experiment was the Z-Pinch, which uses an electrical current flowing through a plasma to generate a magnetic field that compresses the plasma. However, this method has several drawbacks, including the need for high currents and strong magnetic fields, which can be difficult to achieve.
In recent years, alternative methods of generating compression have been developed that do not require such extreme conditions. One example is the Plasma Liner Experiment (PLE), which uses laser-generated shocks to compress plasmas. This method has shown promise in laboratory experiments and could potentially be used in future fusion reactors.