Magnetic reconnection in laser-produced plasmas

ORAL

Abstract

Laser-produced plasmas are a new platform for magnetic reconnection experiments which allow generation of current sheets much larger than intrinsic plasma scales and with low resistivity. We present results from experiments at the National Ignition Facility and OMEGA, where magnetic fields are generated in two expanding plumes by the Biermann battery effect. Collision of the two plasma plumes drives reconnection in a highly-elongated current sheet. The reconnection current sheet and interaction is observed with multiple diagnostics, including proton radiography to detect magnetic field structures and gated x-ray imagers to infer plasma parameters and evolution. The magnetic field measurements show that the current sheet thins down to a half-width close to the electron gyro-scale, suggesting fast reconnection supported by the electron pressure tensor. A high-energy electron spectrometer shows the enhancement in a tail of energized particles (E = 50-100 keV, >> thermal energy of 1 keV) when two plumes collide vs. single expanding plasmas.

*Support from DOE/NNSA, NIF Discovery Science, and the OMEGA Academic and Industrial Basic Science program

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Publication: W. Fox, G. Fiksel, D. B. Schaeffer, D. Haberberger, et al, "A novel kinetic mechanism for the onset of fast magnetic reconnection and plasmoid instabilities in collisionless plasmas". https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.03316, submitted (2022),

W. Fox, D.B. Schaeffer, M.J. Rosenberg, G. Fiksel, et al, "Fast magnetic reconnection in highly-extended current sheets at the National Ignition Facility". https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.06351 submitted (2021).

G. Fiksel, W. Fox, M. Rosenberg, D. Schaeffer, J. Matteucci, A. Bhattacharjee. "Electron energization during merging of self-magnetized, high-beta, laser-produced plasmas", J. Plasma Phys 87(4) (2021).

Presenters

  • William R Fox

    • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Authors

  • William R Fox

    • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

  • Derek B Schaeffer

    • Princeton University

  • Gennady Fiksel

    • University of Michigan

  • Michael J Rosenberg

    • University of Rochester
    • Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester
    • Laboratory for Laser Energetics, U. of Rochester

  • Hye-Sook Park

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • LLNL

  • Kirill Lezhnin

    • Princeton University

  • Amitava Bhattacharjee

    • Princeton University
    • Princeton University, PPPL
    • Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University

  • Daniel H Kalantar

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

  • Bruce A Remington

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

  • Dmitri A Uzdensky

    • University of Colorado, Boulder
    • Univ. Colorado

  • Fredrick H Seguin

    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT

  • Chikang Li

    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT
    • Massachusetts Institute of Technology