Plasma Fluctuation During Guide Field Electron-Only Reconnection In PHASMA

The role of plasma instabilities and waves in the facilitation of fast reconnection is a long-standing issue in magnetic reconnection. In the PHAse SPace MApping (PHASMA) experiment, electron-only magnetic reconnection is studied by the merging of two kink-free flux rope in the presence of a strong guide field. The ratio of the guide to reconnecting magnetic fields is greater than 10. Experimental results presented here focus on electrostatic fluctuations which correlate well with electron heating during push and pull type reconnection in PHASMA. The measured fluctuation frequencies are in the range of lower hybrid drift waves. A four-tip electrostatic probe is used for simultaneous measurement of fluctuations of the electrostatic component of the electric field and the plasma density. Electron temperature and velocity distribution function are measured with an incoherent Thomson scattering system. The goal of this work is to understand the effect of strong guide fields at low βe (0.02) on the electron diffusion region (EDR) and associated electron dynamics during electron-only reconnection. The results from fast photodiodes (light emission) and triple Langmuir probe (density, electric field) and fast camera (flux rope image) also discussed.