Identification of Y-shaped and O-shaped diffusion regions during magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma

Technical Report · Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/304142· OSTI ID:304142

Yamada, Masaaki; Ji, H; Hsu, S; Carter, T; Kulsrud, R; Ono, Yasushi; Perkins, F

Two strikingly different shapes of diffusion regions are identified during magnetic reconnection in a magnetohydrodynamic laboratory plasma. The shapes depend on the third vector component of the reconnecting magnetic fields. Without the third component (anti-parallel or null-helicity reconnection), a thin double-Y shaped diffusion region is identified. In this case, the neutral sheet current profile is accurately measured to be as narrow as the order of the ion gyro-radius. In the presence of an appreciable third component (co-helicity reconnection), an O-shaped diffusion region appears and grows into a spheromak configuration.

• Research Organization: Princeton Univ., Princeton Plasma Physics Lab., NJ (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States); National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (United States); National Science Foundation, Washington, DC (United States); Office of Naval Research, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03073
• OSTI ID: 304142
• Report Number(s): PPPL-3235; ON: DE97051922; TRN: 99:002005
• Resource Relation: Other Information: PBD: [1997]
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION
66 PHYSICS
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
LARMOR RADIUS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
MAGNETIC ISLANDS
SPHEROMAK DEVICES
DIFFUSION