Laser Induced Fluorescence Diagnostic for the Plasma Couette Experiment

The Plasma Couette Experiment (PCX) at U. Wisconsin-Madison consists of a rotating high-beta plasma and is well-suited to the study of flow-driven, astrophysically-relevant plasma phenomena.~ PCX confinement relies on alternating rings of 1kG permanent magnets and the rotation is driven by electrode rings, interspersed between the magnets, which provide an azimuthal ExB. I will discuss the development of a laser-induced fluorescence diagnostic (LIF) to characterize the ion distribution function of argon plasmas in PCX.~ The LIF system--which will be scanned radially--will be used to calibrate internal Mach probes, as well as to measure the time-resolved velocity profile, ion temperature and density non-perturbatively.~ These diagnostics will be applied to study the magneto-rotational instability in a plasma, as well as the buoyancy instability thought to be involved in producing the solar magnetic field. This work is supported by NSF and DOE.