Prospects for studying temperature-anisotropy-driven instabilities in a high-beta laboratory plasma

The mirror and firehose instabilities are driven unstable in magnetized, high-beta plasmas with anisotropic ion distribution functions. Evidence for the action of these instabilities has been found in space plasmas, in particular solar wind observations [1], and they are thought to be important in a number of astrophysical plasmas (e.g. accretion disks). Studying these important instabilities in the lab requires a high-beta, magnetized plasma and the creation of sufficient temperature anisotropy. We will discuss prospects for laboratory experiments making use of the Enormous Toroidal Plasma Device (ETPD) at UCLA. Firehose-unstable ion distributions might be driven in plasmas flowing into an expanding magnetic field (similar to the solar wind). Enhanced anisotropy could be provided by the formation of a double layer in the expanding plasma, which leads to the production of ion beams in expanding laboratory plasmas [2]. We will report on: initial experiments in LAPD studying expanding plasmas, measurements of plasma parameters in ETPD and on theoretical projections for acheivable anisotropy and instability thresholds in ETPD. \\[4pt] [1] S.D. Bale, et al., PRL 103, 211101 (2009).\\[0pt] [2] C. Charles, et al., PoP 11, 1706 (2004).