Formation of Episodic Magnetically Driven Radiatively Cooled Plasma Jets in the Laboratory

TL;DR

This paper presents laboratory experiments demonstrating episodic, magnetically driven plasma jets with radiative cooling, formed by pulsed power, showing magnetic collimation, periodic eruptions, and shock interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a new experimental setup producing episodic magnetic tower jets with radiative cooling, advancing understanding of jet formation and dynamics in laboratory conditions.

Findings

Jets reach velocities of ~300 km/s

Episodic eruptions occur every ~30 ns

Shocks form from jet interactions

Abstract

We report on experiments in which magnetically driven radiatively cooled plasma jets were produced by a 1 MA, 250 ns current pulse on the MAGPIE pulsed power facility. The jets were driven by the pressure of a toroidal magnetic field in a ''magnetic tower'' jet configuration. This scenario is characterized by the formation of a magnetically collimated plasma jet on the axis of a magnetic ''bubble'', confined by the ambient medium. The use of a radial metallic foil instead of the radial wire arrays employed in our previous work allows for the generation of episodic magnetic tower outflows which emerge periodically on timescales of ~30 ns. The subsequent magnetic bubbles propagate with velocities reaching ~300 km/s and interact with previous eruptions leading to the formation of shocks.