Formation and structure of a current sheet in pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection experiments

Hare, J. D.; Lebedev, S. V.; Suttle, L. G.; Loureiro, N. F.; Ciardi, A.; Burdiak, G. C.; Chittenden, J. P.; Clayson, T.; Eardley, S. J.; Garcia, C.; Halliday, J. W.  D.; Niasse, N.; Robinson, T.; Smith, R. A.; Stuart, N.; Suzuki-Vidal, F.; Swadling, G. F.; Ma, J.; Wu, J.

doi:10.1063/1.4986012

Formation and structure of a current sheet in pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection experiments

Journal Article · Fri Sep 22 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4986012· OSTI ID:1547050

^[1]; Lebedev, S. V. ^[2]; Suttle, L. G. ^[2]; Loureiro, N. F. ^[3]; Ciardi, A. ^[4]; Burdiak, G. C. ^[5]; Chittenden, J. P. ^[2]; Clayson, T. ^[2]; Eardley, S. J. ^[2]; Garcia, C. ^[2]; Halliday, J. W. D. ^[2]; Niasse, N. ^[2]; Robinson, T. ^[2]; Smith, R. A. ^[2]; Stuart, N. ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[6]; Ma, J. ^[7]; Wu, J. ^[8]

Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)
Imperial College, London (United Kingdom)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sorbonne Univ., Paris (France)
Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); First Light Fusion Ltd, Oxford (United Kingdom)
Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Northwest Inst. of Nuclear Technology, Xi'an (China)
Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., Shaanxi (China)

We report on 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 discuss 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.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) (SC-24)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0016215

OSTI ID:: 1547050

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1394009

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 24; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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An experimental platform for pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection Hare, J. D.; Suttle, L. G.; Lebedev, S. V. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5016280	journal	May 2018
Ion heating and magnetic flux pile-up in a magnetic reconnection experiment with super-Alfvénic plasma inflows Suttle, L. G.; Hare, J. D.; Lebedev, S. V. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5023664	journal	April 2018
Interactions of magnetized plasma flows in pulsed-power driven experiments Suttle, L. G.; Burdiak, G. C.; Cheung, C. L. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 62, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/ab5296	journal	December 2019
Exploring astrophysics-relevant magnetohydrodynamics with pulsed-power laboratory facilities Lebedev, S. V.; Frank, A.; Ryutov, D. D. Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 91, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/revmodphys.91.025002	journal	April 2019
Ion heating and magnetic flux pile-up in a magnetic reconnection experiment with super-Alfvenic plasma inflows Suttle, L. G.; Hare, J. D.; Lebedev, S. V. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1802.09875	text	January 2018
Interactions of magnetized plasma flows in pulsed-power driven experiments Suttle, L. G.; Burdiak, G. C.; Cheung, C. L. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1907.09447	text	January 2019

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