Structure and Dynamics of Colliding Plasma Jets

• Main Authors: Ryutov, D. (Author), Hu, S. (Author), Amendt, P. (Author), Park, H. (Author), Remington, B. (Author), Wilks, S. (Author), Betti, R. (Author), Froula, D. H. (Author), Knauer, J. (Author), Meyerhofer, D. D. (Author), Drake, R. (Author), Kuranz, C. C. (Author), Young, R. (Author), Koenig, M. (Author), Li, Chikang (Contributor), Rosenberg, Michael Jonathan (Contributor), Zylstra, Alex Bennett (Contributor), Seguin, Fredrick Hampton (Contributor), Frenje, Johan A. (Contributor), Casey, Daniel Thomas (Contributor), Gatu Johnson, Maria (Contributor), Manuel, Mario J.-E (Contributor), Rinderknecht, Hans George (Contributor), Petrasso, Richard D. (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Physical Society, 2014-03-17T13:57:53Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

Monoenergetic-proton radiographs of laser-generated, high-Mach-number plasma jets colliding at various angles shed light on the structures and dynamics of these collisions. The observations compare favorably with results from 2D hydrodynamic simulations of multistream plasma jets, and also with results from an analytic treatment of electron flow and magnetic field advection. In collisions of two noncollinear jets, the observed flow structure is similar to the analytic model's prediction of a characteristic feature with a narrow structure pointing in one direction and a much thicker one pointing in the opposite direction. Spontaneous magnetic fields, largely azimuthal around the colliding jets and generated by the well-known ∇T[subscript e] × ∇n[subscript e] Biermann battery effect near the periphery of the laser spots, are demonstrated to be "frozen in" the plasma (due to high magnetic Reynolds number Re[subscript M] ~ 5 × 10[superscript 4]) and advected along the jet streamlines of the electron flow. These studies provide novel insight into the interactions and dynamics of colliding plasma jets.
United States. Dept. of Energy (University of Rochester. Laboratory for Laser Energetics. National Laser User's Facility DE-FG52-07NA28 059)
United States. Dept. of Energy (University of Rochester. Laboratory for Laser Energetics. National Laser User's Facility DE-FG03-03SF22691)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (B543881)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LDRD-08-ER-062)
University of Rochester. Laboratory for Laser Energetics (414090-G)
University of Rochester. Fusion Science Center (412761-G)