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On the generation of magnetized collisionless shocks in the large plasma device.
- Source :
- Physics of Plasmas; 2017, Vol. 24 Issue 4, p1-6, 6p, 1 Diagram, 1 Chart, 3 Graphs
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Collisionless shocks are common phenomena in space and astrophysical systems, and in many cases, the shocks can be modeled as the result of the expansion of a magnetic piston though a magnetized ambient plasma. Only recently, however, have laser facilities and diagnostic capabilities evolved sufficiently to allow the detailed study in the laboratory of the microphysics of piston-driven shocks. We review experiments on collisionless shocks driven by a laser-produced magnetic piston undertaken with the Phoenix laser laboratory and the Large Plasma Device at the University of California, Los Angeles. The experiments span a large parameter space in laser energy, background magnetic field, and ambient plasma properties that allow us to probe the physics of piston-ambient energy coupling, the launching of magnetosonic solitons, and the formation of subcritical shocks. The results indicate that piston-driven magnetized collisionless shocks in the laboratory can be characterized with a small set of dimensionless formation parameters that place the formation process in an organized and predictive framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- COLLISIONLESS plasmas
PLASMA gases
IONIZING shock waves
MAGNETIC fields
MICROPHYSICS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1070664X
- Volume :
- 24
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Physics of Plasmas
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 122825130
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4978882