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

Abstract

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.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6];  [7]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Imperial College, London (United Kingdom)
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  3. Sorbonne Univ., Paris (France)
  4. Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); First Light Fusion Ltd, Oxford (United Kingdom)
  5. Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  6. Northwest Inst. of Nuclear Technology, Xi'an (China)
  7. Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., Shaanxi (China)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
OSTI Identifier:
1547050
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1394009
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0016215; F03-02NA00057; SC-0001063
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physics of Plasmas
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 24; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

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., and Wu, J. Formation and structure of a current sheet in pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection experiments. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4986012.
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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. Formation and structure of a current sheet in pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection experiments. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4986012
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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., and Wu, J. Fri . "Formation and structure of a current sheet in pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection experiments". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4986012. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1547050.
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@article{osti_1547050,
title = {Formation and structure of a current sheet in pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection experiments},
author = {Hare, J. D. and Lebedev, S. V. and Suttle, L. G. and Loureiro, N. F. and Ciardi, A. and Burdiak, G. C. and Chittenden, J. P. and Clayson, T. and Eardley, S. J. and Garcia, C. and Halliday, J. W. D. and Niasse, N. and Robinson, T. and Smith, R. A. and Stuart, N. and Suzuki-Vidal, F. and Swadling, G. F. and Ma, J. and Wu, J.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4986012},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 10,
volume = 24,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Sep 22 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Fri Sep 22 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4986012
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    An experimental platform for pulsed-power driven magnetic reconnection
    journal, May 2018

    • Hare, J. D.; Suttle, L. G.; Lebedev, S. V.
    • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 5
    • DOI: 10.1063/1.5016280

    Ion heating and magnetic flux pile-up in a magnetic reconnection experiment with super-Alfvénic plasma inflows
    journal, April 2018

    • Suttle, L. G.; Hare, J. D.; Lebedev, S. V.
    • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 4
    • DOI: 10.1063/1.5023664

    Interactions of magnetized plasma flows in pulsed-power driven experiments
    journal, December 2019

    • Suttle, L. G.; Burdiak, G. C.; Cheung, C. L.
    • Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. 62, Issue 1
    • DOI: 10.1088/1361-6587/ab5296

    Interactions of magnetized plasma flows in pulsed-power driven experiments
    text, January 2019

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