38 research outputs found
Formation and Structure of a Current Sheet in Pulsed-Power Driven Magnetic Reconnection Experiments
We describe magnetic reconnection experiments using a new, pulsed-power
driven experimental platform in which the inflows are super-sonic but
sub-Alfv\'enic.The intrinsically magnetised plasma flows are long lasting,
producing a well-defined reconnection layer that persists over many
hydrodynamic time scales.The layer is diagnosed using a suite of high
resolution laser based diagnostics which provide measurements of the electron
density, reconnecting magnetic field, inflow and outflow velocities and the
electron and ion temperatures.Using these measurements we observe a balance
between the power flow into and out of the layer, and we find that the heating
rates for the electrons and ions are significantly in excess of the classical
predictions. The formation of plasmoids is observed in laser interferometry and
optical self-emission, and the magnetic O-point structure of these plasmoids is
confirmed using magnetic probes.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Physics of Plasma
Counter-propagating radiative shock experiments on the Orion laser and the formation of radiative precursors
We present results from new experiments to study the dynamics of radiative
shocks, reverse shocks and radiative precursors. Laser ablation of a solid
piston by the Orion high-power laser at AWE Aldermaston UK was used to drive
radiative shocks into a gas cell initially pressurised between and $1.0 \
bar with different noble gases. Shocks propagated at {80 \pm 10 \ km/s} and
experienced strong radiative cooling resulting in post-shock compressions of {
\times 25 \pm 2}. A combination of X-ray backlighting, optical self-emission
streak imaging and interferometry (multi-frame and streak imaging) were used to
simultaneously study both the shock front and the radiative precursor. These
experiments present a new configuration to produce counter-propagating
radiative shocks, allowing for the study of reverse shocks and providing a
unique platform for numerical validation. In addition, the radiative shocks
were able to expand freely into a large gas volume without being confined by
the walls of the gas cell. This allows for 3-D effects of the shocks to be
studied which, in principle, could lead to a more direct comparison to
astrophysical phenomena. By maintaining a constant mass density between
different gas fills the shocks evolved with similar hydrodynamics but the
radiative precursor was found to extend significantly further in higher atomic
number gases (\sim4$ times further in xenon than neon). Finally, 1-D and 2-D
radiative-hydrodynamic simulations are presented showing good agreement with
the experimental data.Comment: HEDLA 2016 conference proceeding
Formation and structure of a current sheet in pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection experiments
We describe magnetic reconnection experiments using a new, pulsed-power driven experimental platform in which the inflows are super-sonic but sub-Alfvénic. The intrinsically magnetised plasma flows are long lasting, producing a well-defined reconnection layer that persists over many hydrodynamic time scales. The layer is diagnosed using a suite of high resolution laser based diagnostics, which provide measurements of the electron density, reconnecting magnetic field, inflow and outflow velocities, and the electron and ion temperatures. Using these measurements, we observe a balance between the power flow into and out of the layer, and we find that the heating rates for the electrons and ions are significantly in excess of the classical predictions. The formation of plasmoids is observed in laser interferometry and optical self-emission, and the magnetic O-point structure of these plasmoids is confirmed using magnetic probes.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant EP/N013379/1)United States. Department of Energy (Awards DE-F03-02NA00057)United States. Department of Energy (Awards DE-SC-0001063)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award DE-sc0016215
Radiative cooling effects on reverse shocks formed by magnetised supersonic plasma flows
We study the structure of reverse shocks formed by the collision of
supersonic, magnetised plasma flows driven by an inverse (or exploding) wire
array with a planar conducting obstacle. We observe that the structure of these
reverse shocks varies dramatically with wire material, despite the similar
upstream flow velocities and mass densities. For aluminium wire arrays, the
shock is sharp and well defined, consistent with magneto-hydrodynamic theory.
In contrast, we do not observe a well-defined shock using tungsten wires,
instead, we see a broad region dominated by density fluctuations on a wide
range of spatial scales. We diagnose these two very different interactions
using interferometry, Thomson scattering, shadowgraphy, and a newly developed
imaging refractometer which is sensitive to small deflections of the probing
laser corresponding to small-scale density perturbations. We conclude that the
differences in shock structure are most likely due to radiative cooling
instabilities which create small-scale density perturbations elongated along
magnetic field lines in the tungsten plasma. These instabilities grow more
slowly and are smoothed by thermal conduction in the aluminium plasma
Experimental Studies of Magnetically Driven Plasma Jets
We present experimental results on the formation of supersonic, radiatively
cooled jets driven by pressure due to the toroidal magnetic field generated by
the 1.5 MA, 250 ns current from the MAGPIE generator. The morphology of the jet
produced in the experiments is relevant to astrophysical jet scenarios in which
a jet on the axis of a magnetic cavity is collimated by a toroidal magnetic
field as it expands into the ambient medium. The jets in the experiments have
similar Mach number, plasma beta and cooling parameter to those in protostellar
jets. Additionally the Reynolds, magnetic Reynolds and Peclet numbers are much
larger than unity, allowing the experiments to be scaled to astrophysical
flows. The experimental configuration allows for the generation of episodic
magnetic cavities, suggesting that periodic fluctuations near the source may be
responsible for some of the variability observed in astrophysical jets.
Preliminary measurements of kinetic, magnetic and Poynting energy of the jets
in our experiments are presented and discussed, together with estimates of
their temperature and trapped toroidal magnetic field.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space
Scienc