Radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection experiments driven by pulsed power
We present evidence for strong radiative cooling in a pulsed-power-driven magnetic reconnection experiment. Two aluminum exploding wire arrays, driven by a 20 MA peak current, 300 ns rise time pulse from the Z machine (Sandia National Laboratories), generate strongly driven plasma flows ( ) with...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
AIP Publishing
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/155298 |
| _version_ | 1824458242596536320 |
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| author | Datta, R. Chandler, K. Myers, C. E. Chittenden, J. P. Crilly, A. J. Aragon, C. Ampleford, D. J. Banasek, J. T. Edens, A. Fox, W. R. Hansen, S. B. Harding, E. C. Jennings, C. A. Ji, H. Kuranz, C. C. Lebedev, S. V. Looker, Q. Patel, S. G. Porwitzky, A. Shipley, G. A. Uzdensky, D. A. Yager-Elorriaga, D. A. Hare, J. D. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center Datta, R. Chandler, K. Myers, C. E. Chittenden, J. P. Crilly, A. J. Aragon, C. Ampleford, D. J. Banasek, J. T. Edens, A. Fox, W. R. Hansen, S. B. Harding, E. C. Jennings, C. A. Ji, H. Kuranz, C. C. Lebedev, S. V. Looker, Q. Patel, S. G. Porwitzky, A. Shipley, G. A. Uzdensky, D. A. Yager-Elorriaga, D. A. Hare, J. D. |
| author_sort | Datta, R. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We present evidence for strong radiative cooling in a pulsed-power-driven magnetic reconnection experiment. Two aluminum exploding wire arrays, driven by a 20 MA peak current, 300 ns rise time pulse from the Z machine (Sandia National Laboratories), generate strongly driven plasma flows (
) with anti-parallel magnetic fields, which form a reconnection layer (
) at the mid-plane. The net cooling rate far exceeds the Alfvénic transit rate (
), leading to strong cooling of the reconnection layer. We determine the advected magnetic field and flow velocity using inductive probes positioned in the inflow to the layer, and inflow ion density and temperature from analysis of visible emission spectroscopy. A sharp decrease in x-ray emission from the reconnection layer, measured using filtered diodes and time-gated x-ray imaging, provides evidence for strong cooling of the reconnection layer after its initial formation. X-ray images also show localized hotspots, regions of strong x-ray emission, with velocities comparable to the expected outflow velocity from the reconnection layer. These hotspots are consistent with plasmoids observed in 3D radiative resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the experiment. X-ray spectroscopy further indicates that the hotspots have a temperature (170 eV) much higher than the bulk layer (
) and inflow temperatures (about
) and that these hotspots generate the majority of the high-energy (
) emission. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:46:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/155298 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:22:47Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | AIP Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1552982025-02-05T20:09:41Z Radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection experiments driven by pulsed power Datta, R. Chandler, K. Myers, C. E. Chittenden, J. P. Crilly, A. J. Aragon, C. Ampleford, D. J. Banasek, J. T. Edens, A. Fox, W. R. Hansen, S. B. Harding, E. C. Jennings, C. A. Ji, H. Kuranz, C. C. Lebedev, S. V. Looker, Q. Patel, S. G. Porwitzky, A. Shipley, G. A. Uzdensky, D. A. Yager-Elorriaga, D. A. Hare, J. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center We present evidence for strong radiative cooling in a pulsed-power-driven magnetic reconnection experiment. Two aluminum exploding wire arrays, driven by a 20 MA peak current, 300 ns rise time pulse from the Z machine (Sandia National Laboratories), generate strongly driven plasma flows ( ) with anti-parallel magnetic fields, which form a reconnection layer ( ) at the mid-plane. The net cooling rate far exceeds the Alfvénic transit rate ( ), leading to strong cooling of the reconnection layer. We determine the advected magnetic field and flow velocity using inductive probes positioned in the inflow to the layer, and inflow ion density and temperature from analysis of visible emission spectroscopy. A sharp decrease in x-ray emission from the reconnection layer, measured using filtered diodes and time-gated x-ray imaging, provides evidence for strong cooling of the reconnection layer after its initial formation. X-ray images also show localized hotspots, regions of strong x-ray emission, with velocities comparable to the expected outflow velocity from the reconnection layer. These hotspots are consistent with plasmoids observed in 3D radiative resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the experiment. X-ray spectroscopy further indicates that the hotspots have a temperature (170 eV) much higher than the bulk layer ( ) and inflow temperatures (about ) and that these hotspots generate the majority of the high-energy ( ) emission. National Science Foundation (NSF) NNSA 2024-06-21T19:02:27Z 2024-06-21T19:02:27Z 2024-05-01 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1070-664X 1089-7674 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/155298 R. Datta, K. Chandler, C. E. Myers, J. P. Chittenden, A. J. Crilly, C. Aragon, D. J. Ampleford, J. T. Banasek, A. Edens, W. R. Fox, S. B. Hansen, E. C. Harding, C. A. Jennings, H. Ji, C. C. Kuranz, S. V. Lebedev, Q. Looker, S. G. Patel, A. Porwitzky, G. A. Shipley, D. A. Uzdensky, D. A. Yager-Elorriaga, J. D. Hare; Radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection experiments driven by pulsed power. Phys. Plasmas 1 May 2024; 31 (5): 052110. 10.1063/5.0201683 10.1063/5.0201683 Physics of Plasmas Creative Commons Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf AIP Publishing AIP Publishing |
| spellingShingle | Datta, R. Chandler, K. Myers, C. E. Chittenden, J. P. Crilly, A. J. Aragon, C. Ampleford, D. J. Banasek, J. T. Edens, A. Fox, W. R. Hansen, S. B. Harding, E. C. Jennings, C. A. Ji, H. Kuranz, C. C. Lebedev, S. V. Looker, Q. Patel, S. G. Porwitzky, A. Shipley, G. A. Uzdensky, D. A. Yager-Elorriaga, D. A. Hare, J. D. Radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection experiments driven by pulsed power |
| title | Radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection experiments driven by pulsed power |
| title_full | Radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection experiments driven by pulsed power |
| title_fullStr | Radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection experiments driven by pulsed power |
| title_full_unstemmed | Radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection experiments driven by pulsed power |
| title_short | Radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection experiments driven by pulsed power |
| title_sort | radiatively cooled magnetic reconnection experiments driven by pulsed power |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/155298 |
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