Measurements of Ion Velocity Distribution Functions in a Flux Rope

As models and simulations of magnetic reconnection become increasingly powerful, laboratory measurements at kinetic scales are vital as benchmarks. Towards this end, the PHAse Space MApping experiment (PHASMA) was constructed to study magnetic reconnection in the laboratory at the kinetic scale. In PHASMA, magnetic reconnection is achieved when flux ropes (generated by pulsed plasma guns) merge. By varying the strength of the magnetic guide field and the ion species, reconnection in PHASMA can be varied from standard to electron-only. Here we report measurements of the ion velocity distribution function (IVDF) with laser induced fluorescence (LIF) in flux rope plasmas with and without magnetic reconnection. We report measurements of ion heating and details of non-Maxwelllian features in the IVDFs.