1. Experimental investigation of coaxial-gun-formed plasmas injected into a background transverse magnetic field or plasma.
- Author
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Zhang, Yue, Fisher, Dustin M., Gilmore, Mark, Hsu, Scott C., and Lynn, Alan G.
- Subjects
PLASMA jets ,MAGNETIZATION ,JETS (Nuclear physics) ,PLASMA flow ,MAGNETIC fields - 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 0.1kV [Y. ZhangA et al. , Phys. Plasmas24 , 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2018
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