An experimental platform for pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection
Name
1.5016280.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
3.36 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
4ba31dbebb374601e77b8eeb0d22078e
Author(s)
Gomes Loureiro, Nuno F
Date Issued
2018
Journal
Physics of plasmas
Publisher
AIP Publishing
Citation
Hare, J.D., et al. "An Experimental Platform for Pulsed-Power Driven Magnetic Reconnection." Physics of Plasmas 25 (2018): no. 055703; doi: 10.1063/1.5016280
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We describe a versatile pulsed-power driven platform for magnetic reconnection experiments, based on the exploding wire arrays driven in parallel [Suttle et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 225001 (2016)]. This platform produces inherently magnetised plasma flows for the duration of the generator current pulse (250 ns), resulting in a long-lasting reconnection layer. The layer exists for long enough to allow the evolution of complex processes such as plasmoid formation and movement to be diagnosed by a suite of high spatial and temporal resolution laser-based diagnostics. We can access a wide range of magnetic reconnection regimes by changing the wire material or moving the electrodes inside the wire arrays. We present results with aluminium and carbon wires, in which the parameters of the inflows and the layer that forms are significantly different. By moving the electrodes inside the wire arrays, we change how strongly the inflows are driven. This enables us to study both symmetric reconnection in a range of different regimes and asymmetric reconnection.© 2018 Author(s).
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5016280
