Experimental investigation of coaxial-gun-formed plasmas injected into a background transverse magnetic field or plasma
Abstract
Injection of coaxial-gun-formed magnetized plasmas into a background transverse vacuum magnetic field or into a background magnetized plasma has been studied in the helicon-cathode (HelCat) linear plasma device at the University of New Mexico [M. Gilmore et al., J. Plasma Phys. 81, 345810104 (2015)]. A magnetized plasma jet launched into a background transverse magnetic field shows emergent kink stabilization of the jet due to the formation of a sheared flow in the jet above the kink stabilization threshold 0.1kVA [Y. Zhang et al., Phys. Plasmas 24, 110702 (2017)]. Injection of a spheromak-like plasma into a transverse background magnetic field led to the observation of finger-like structures on the side with a stronger magnetic field null between the spheromak and the background field. The finger-like structures are consistent with magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Jets or spheromaks launched into a background, low-β magnetized plasma show similar behavior as above, respectively, in both cases.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 23, 2018
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.5019727
Entities
People
- Alan G. Lynn
- Dustin M. Fisher
- Mark Gilmore
- Scott C Hsu
- Y. Zhang
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- National Science Foundation
- University of New Mexico