Review of recent experiments on magnetic reconnection in laboratory plasmas
The present paper reviews recent laboratory experiments on magnetic reconnection. Examples will be drawn from electron current sheet experiments, merging spheromaks, and from high temperature tokamak plasmas with the Lundquist numbers exceeding 10{sup 7}. These recent laboratory experiments create an environment which satisfies the criteria for MHD plasma and in which the global boundary conditions can be controlled externally. Experiments with fully three dimensional reconnection are now possible. In the most recent TFTR tokamak discharges, Motional Stark effect (MSE) data have verified the existence of a partial reconnection. In the experiment of spheromak merging, a new plasma acceleration parallel to the neutral line has been indicated. Together with the relationship of these observations to the analysis of magnetic reconnection in space and in solar flares, important physics issues such as global boundary conditions, local plasma parameters, merging angle of the field lines, and the 3-D aspects of the reconnection are discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH03073
- OSTI ID:
- 10115945
- Report Number(s):
- PPPL-3012; ON: DE95007358; TRN: 95:001630
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Feb 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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