The Madison plasma dynamo experiment: A facility for studying laboratory plasma astrophysics
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Whyte_The madison.pdf
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3.25 MB
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Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Cooper, C. M.
Wallace, J.
Brookhart, M.
Clark, M.
Collins, C.
Ding, W. X.
Flanagan, Kathryn A.
Khalzov, I.
Li, Y.
Milhone, J.
Date Issued
January 2014
Journal
Physics of Plasmas
Publisher
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Citation
Cooper, C. M., J. Wallace, M. Brookhart, M. Clark, C. Collins, W. X. Ding, K. Flanagan, et al. “The Madison Plasma Dynamo Experiment: A Facility for Studying Laboratory Plasma Astrophysics.” Phys. Plasmas 21, no. 1 (January 2014): 013505. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The Madison plasma dynamo experiment (MPDX) is a novel, versatile, basic plasma research device designed to investigate flow driven magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and other high-β phenomena with astrophysically relevant parameters. A 3 m diameter vacuum vessel is lined with 36 rings of alternately oriented 4000 G samarium cobalt magnets, which create an axisymmetric multicusp that contains ∼14 m[superscript 3] of nearly magnetic field free plasma that is well confined and highly ionized (>50%). At present, 8 lanthanum hexaboride (LaB[subscript 6]) cathodes and 10 molybdenum anodes are inserted into the vessel and biased up to 500 V, drawing 40 A each cathode, ionizing a low pressure Ar or He fill gas and heating it. Up to 100 kW of electron cyclotron heating power is planned for additional electron heating. The LaB[subscript 6] cathodes are positioned in the magnetized edge to drive toroidal rotation through J × B torques that propagate into the unmagnetized core plasma. Dynamo studies on MPDX require a high magnetic Reynolds number Rm > 1000, and an adjustable fluid Reynolds number 10 < Re < 1000, in the regime where the kinetic energy of the flow exceeds the magnetic energy ( M[2 over A]=([v over v[subscript A])[superscript 2] > 1). Initial results from MPDX are presented along with a 0-dimensional power and particle balance model to predict the viscosity and resistivity to achieve dynamo action.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4861609
