Laboratory plasma physics experiments using merging supersonic plasma jets

Hsu, S. C.; Moser, A. L.; Merritt, E. C.; Adams, C. S.; Dunn, J. P.; Brockington, S.; Case, A.; Gilmore, M.; Lynn, A. G.; Messer, S. J.; Witherspoon, F. D.

doi:10.1017/S0022377814001184

Title: Laboratory plasma physics experiments using merging supersonic plasma jets

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Plasma Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377814001184· OSTI ID:1193438

Hsu, S. C. ^[1]; Moser, A. L. ^[1]; Merritt, E. C. ^[2]; Adams, C. S. ^[2]; Dunn, J. P. ^[1]; Brockington, S. ^[3]; Case, A. ^[3]; Gilmore, M. ^[4]; Lynn, A. G. ^[4]; Messer, S. J. ^[3]; Witherspoon, F. D. ^[3]

Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
HyperV Technologies Corp., Chantilly, VA (United States)
Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)

We describe a laboratory plasma physics experiment at Los Alamos National Laboratory that uses two merging supersonic plasma jets formed and launched by pulsed-power-driven railguns. The jets can be formed using any atomic species or mixture available in a compressed-gas bottle and have the following nominal initial parameters at the railgun nozzle exit: n_e ≈ n_i ~ 10¹⁶ cm⁻³, T_e ≈ T_i ≈ 1.4 eV, V_jet ≈ 30–100 km/s, mean charge $$\bar{Z}$$ ≈ 1, sonic Mach number M_s ≡ V_jet/C_s > 10, jet diameter = 5 cm, and jet length ≈ 20 cm. Experiments to date have focused on the study of merging-jet dynamics and the shocks that form as a result of the interaction, in both collisional and collisionless regimes with respect to the inter-jet classical ion mean free path, and with and without an applied magnetic field. However, many other studies are also possible, as discussed in this paper.

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396

OSTI ID:: 1193438

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-14-25983; PII: S0022377814001184; TRN: US1600644

Journal Information:: Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 81, Issue 02; ISSN 0022-3778

Publisher:: Cambridge University PressCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 18 works

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Observation of Rayleigh-Taylor-instability evolution in a plasma with magnetic and viscous effects Adams, Colin S.; Moser, Auna L.; Hsu, Scott C. Physical Review E, Vol. 92, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.92.051101	journal	November 2015
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