An Experimental Platform for Pulsed-Power Driven Magnetic Reconnection

Abstract

We describe a versatile pulsed-power driven platform for magnetic reconnection experiments, based on exploding wire arrays driven in parallel [Suttle, L. G. et al. PRL, 116, 225001]. This platform produces inherently magnetised plasma flows for the duration of the generator current pulse (250 ns), resulting in a long-lasting reconnection layer. The layer exists for long enough to allow evolution of complex processes such as plasmoid formation and movement to be diagnosed by a suite of high spatial and temporal resolution laser-based diagnostics. We can access a wide range of magnetic reconnection regimes by changing the wire material or moving the electrodes inside the wire arrays. We present results with aluminium and carbon wires, in which the parameters of the inflows and the layer which forms are significantly different. By moving the electrodes inside the wire arrays, we change how strongly the inflows are driven. This enables us to study both symmetric reconnection in a range of different regimes, and asymmetric reconnection.

arXiv comment14 pages, 9 figures. Version revised to include referee's comments. Submitted to Physics of Plasmas

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• Plasmoid instability in the semi-collisional regime
• Time-resolved velocity and ion sound speed measurements from simultaneous bow shock imaging and inductive probe measurements
• The structure of 3D collisional magnetized bow shocks in pulsed-power-driven plasma flow
• Anomalous plasma acceleration in colliding high-power laser-produced plasmas
• Plasma flows during the ablation stage of an over-massed pulsed-power-driven exploding planar wire array
• Radiative cooling effects on reverse shocks formed by magnetised supersonic plasma flows
• Role of ion acoustic instability in magnetic reconnection
• A Time-Resolved Imaging System for the Diagnosis of X-ray Self-Emission in High Energy Density Physics Experiments