Magnetic reconnection between colliding magnetized laser-produced plasma plumes

Observations of magnetic reconnection between colliding plumes of magnetized laser-produced plasma are presented. Two counterpropagating plasma flows are created by irradiating oppositely placed plastic (CH) targets with 1.8-kJ, 2-ns laser beams on the Omega EP Laser System. The interaction region b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2014-09, Vol.113 (10), p.105003-105003, Article 105003
Main Authors: Fiksel, G, Fox, W, Bhattacharjee, A, Barnak, D H, Chang, P-Y, Germaschewski, K, Hu, S X, Nilson, P M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computer simulation
Current sheets
Dynamics
Laser beams
Magnetic fields
Particle in cell technique
Plumes
Ribbons
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Summary:Observations of magnetic reconnection between colliding plumes of magnetized laser-produced plasma are presented. Two counterpropagating plasma flows are created by irradiating oppositely placed plastic (CH) targets with 1.8-kJ, 2-ns laser beams on the Omega EP Laser System. The interaction region between the plumes is prefilled with a low-density background plasma and magnetized by an externally applied magnetic field, imposed perpendicular to the plasma flow, and initialized with an X-type null point geometry with B=0 at the midplane and B=8  T at the targets. The counterflowing plumes sweep up and compress the background plasma and the magnetic field into a pair of magnetized ribbons, which collide, stagnate, and reconnect at the midplane, allowing the first detailed observations of a stretched current sheet in laser-driven reconnection experiments. The dynamics of current sheet formation are in good agreement with first-principles particle-in-cell simulations that model the experiments.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.113.105003