Experimental investigations of ablation stream interaction dynamics in tungsten wire arrays: interpenetration, magnetic field advection, and ion deflection
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Experiments have been carried out to investigate the collisional dynamics of ablation streams produced by cylindrical wire array z-pinches. A combination of laser interferometric imaging, Thomson scattering, and Faraday rotationimaging has been used to make a range of measurements of the temporal evolution of various plasma and flow parameters. This paper presents a summary of previously published data, drawing together a range of different measurements in order to give an overview of the key results. The paper focuses mainly on the results of experiments with tungsten wire arrays. Early interferometric imagingmeasurements are reviewed, then more recent Thomson scattering measurements are discussed; these measurements provided the first direct evidence of ablation stream interpenetration in a wire array experiment. Combining the data from these experiments gives a view of the temporal evolution of the tungsten stream collisional dynamics. In the final part of the paper, we present new experimental measurements made using an imagingFaraday rotationdiagnostic. These experiments investigated the structure of magnetic fields near the array axis directly; the presence of a magnetic field has previously been inferred based on Thomson scattering measurements of ion deflection near the array axis. Although the Thomson and Faradaymeasurements are not in full quantitative agreement, the Faraday data do qualitatively supports the conjecture that the observed deflections are induced by a static toroidal magnetic field, which has been advected to the array axis by the ablation streams. It is likely that detailed modeling will be needed in order to fully understand the dynamics observed in the experiment.
Date Issued
2016-05-04
Date Acceptance
2016-03-29
Citation
Physics of Plasmas, 2016, 23 (5)
ISSN
1089-7674
Publisher
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Journal / Book Title
Physics of Plasmas
Volume
23
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2016 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Physics of Plasmas and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4948279
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
US Department of Energy
U.S Department of Energy
Grant Number
EP/G001324/1
675350-9958
416729-G
Subjects
Fluids & Plasmas
0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle And Plasma Physics
0201 Astronomical And Space Sciences
0203 Classical Physics
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
056309