On the ions acceleration via collisionless magnetic reconnection in laboratory plasmas

TL;DR

This paper investigates ion acceleration during magnetic reconnection in laboratory plasmas using kinetic simulations, revealing shock structures and potential applications in plasma acceleration technologies.

Contribution

It provides a detailed kinetic simulation analysis of ion outflows in laboratory-like reconnection scenarios, including realistic mass ratios and shock formation insights.

Findings

Shock wave structures observed in ion outflows.

Reconnection can accelerate ions effectively.

Potential applications in electric propulsion and ion beam production.

Abstract

This work presents an analysis of the ion outflow from magnetic reconnection throughout fully kinetic simulations with typical laboratory plasmas values. A symmetric initial configuration for the density and magnetic field is considered across the current sheet. After analyzing the behavior of a set of nine simulations with a reduced mass ratio and with a permuted value of three initial electron temperature and magnetic field intensity, the best ion acceleration scenario is further studied with a realistic mass ratio in terms of the ion dynamics and energy budget. Interestingly, a series of shock waves structures are observed in the outflow, resembling the shock discontinuities found in recent magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. An analysis of the ion outflow at several distances from the reconnection point is presented, in light of possible laboratory applications. The analysis suggests that magnetic reconnection could be used as a tool for plasma acceleration, with applications ranging from electric propulsion to production of ion thermal beams.