Experimental study of subcritical laboratory magnetized collisionless shocks using a laser-driven magnetic piston
Abstract
Recent experiments at the University of California, Los Angeles have successfully generated subcritical magnetized collisionless shocks, allowing new laboratory studies of shock formation relevant to space shocks. The characteristics of these shocks are compared with new data in which no shock or a pre-shock formed. The results are consistent with theory and 2D hybrid simulations and indicate that the observed shock or shock-like structures can be organized into distinct regimes by coupling strength. With additional experiments on the early time parameters of the laser plasma utilizing Thomson scattering, spectroscopy, and fast-gate filtered imaging, these regimes are found to be in good agreement with theoretical shock formation criteria.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.4934983
Entities
People
- A. S. Bondarenko
- C. G. Constantin
- Christoph Niemann
- D. Winske
- Derek Schaeffer
- E. T. Everson
- S. E. Clark
- Walter Gekelman
Organizations
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- National Science Foundation
- United States Department of Energy