Laboratory plasma physics experiments using merging supersonic plasma jets

Abstract

We describe a laboratory plasma physics experiment at Los Alamos National Laboratory that uses two merging supersonic plasma jets formed and launched by pulsed-power-driven rail guns. The jets can be formed using any atomic species or mixture available in a compressed-gas bottle and have the following nominal initial parameters at the railgun nozzle exit: $n_e\approx n_i\sim 10^{16}$ cm${}^{-3}$, $T_e\approx T_i\approx 1.4$ eV, $V_{\mathrm{jet}}\approx 30$-100 km/s, mean charge $\bar{Z}\approx 1$, sonic Mach number $M_s\equiv V_{\mathrm{jet}}/C_s>10$, jet diameter $=5$ cm, and jet length $\approx 20$ cm. Experiments to date have focused on the study of merging-jet dynamics and the shocks that form as a result of the interaction, in both collisional and collisionless regimes with respect to the inter-jet classical ion mean free path, and with and without an applied magnetic field. However, many other studies are also possible, as discussed in this paper.

12 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables; published in J. Plasma Physics

References in corpus (10)

• Filamentation instability of counter-streaming laser-driven plasmas
• Experimental characterization of railgun-driven supersonic plasma jets motivated by high energy density physics applications
• Experimental evidence for collisional shock formation via two obliquely merging supersonic plasma jets
• The impact of the Hall effect on high energy density plasma jets
• One-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic scaling studies of imploding spherical plasma liners
• Ideal hydrodynamic scaling relations for a stagnated imploding spherical plasma liner formed by an array of merging plasma jets
• Particle-in-cell simulations of collisionless shock formation via head-on merging of two laboratory supersonic plasma jets
• Possible Energy Gain for a Plasma Liner-Driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion Concept
• One-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of imploding spherical plasma liners with detailed equation-of-state modeling
• Multi-chord fiber-coupled interferometry of supersonic plasma jets and comparisons with synthetic data

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Laboratory Space Physics: Investigating the Physics of Space Plasmas in the Laboratory
• Experiment to Form and Characterize a Section of a Spherically Imploding Plasma Liner
• Experimental characterization of a transition from collisionless to collisional interaction between head-on-merging supersonic plasma jets
• Magnetized Plasma Target for Plasma-Jet-Driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion
• Experimental Measurements of Ion Heating in Collisional Plasma Shocks and Interpenetrating Supersonic Plasma Flows
• Experimental characterization of a section of a spherically imploding plasma liner formed by merging hypersonic plasma jets
• Observation of Rayleigh-Taylor-Instability Evolution in a Plasma with Magnetic and Viscous Effects
• Physics Criteria for a Subscale Plasma Liner Experiment
• An investigation of shock formation versus shock mitigation of colliding plasma jets