Formation of radiatively cooled, supersonically rotating, plasma flows in Z-pinch experiments: Towards the development of an experimental platform to study accretion disk physics in the laboratory
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We present data from the first Z-pinch experiments aiming to simulate aspects of accretion disk physics in the laboratory. Using off axis ablation flows from a wire array z-pinch we demonstrate the formation of a supersonically (M ∼ 2) rotating hollow plasma cylinder of height ∼4 mm and radius 2 mm. Using a combination of diagnostics we measure the rotation speed (∼60 kms−1), electron density (1019 cm−3), ion temperature (Ti ∼ 60 eV) and the product of electron temperature and average ionisation (ZTe ∼ 150 to 200 eV). Using these parameters we calculate the Reynolds number for the plasma on the order 105 and magnetic Reynolds number as 10 – 100. The plasma flow is maintained for 150 ns, corresponding to one rotation period, which should allow for studying fast instabilities which develop on this time-scale.
Date Issued
2015-02-24
Date Acceptance
2015-02-24
Citation
High Energy Density Physics, 2015, 17, pp.63-67
ISSN
1878-0563
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
63
End Page
67
Journal / Book Title
High Energy Density Physics
Volume
17
Copyright Statement
© 2015, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
US Department of Energy
The Royal Society
US Department of Energy
Grant Number
EP/G001324/1
415942-G
UF120135
675350-9958
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Physics
Laboratory astrophysics
Accretion disks
Supersonic flow
Rotating plasma
High energy density
ARRAY Z-PINCHES
NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS
BINARIES
DYNAMICS
Publication Status
Published