Magnetic reconnection between colliding magnetized laser-produced plasma plumes.

Phys Rev Lett

Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA and Fusion Science Center for Extreme States of Matter, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.

Published: September 2014

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Article Abstract

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.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.105003DOI Listing

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