Final Report for Project DE-SC0006958: "An Investigation of the Effects of magnetic Fields and Collisionality on Shock Formation in Radiatively Cooled Plasma Flows"

[摘要] We have developed a new experimental platform to study bow-shock formation in plasma flows generated using an inverse wire array z-pinch. We have made significant progress on the analysis of both hydrodynamic and magnetized shocks using this system. The hydrodynamic experiments show formation of a well-defined Mach cone, and highly localized shock strong associated with radiative losses and rapidly cooling over the shock. Magnetized shocks show that the balance of magnetic and ram pressures dominate the evolution of the shock region, generating a low plasma beta void around the target. Manuscripts are in preparation for publication on both these topics. We have also published the development of a novel diagnostic method which allow recovery of interferometry and self-emission data along the same line of sight. Finally, we have carried out work to integrate a kinetic routine with the 3D MHD code Gorgon, however it remains to complete this process. Both undergraduate and graduate students have been involved in both the experimental work and publications.

[发布日期] 2014-11-05

[学科分类] 原子、分子光学和等离子物理

[关键词] plasma physics;shock