Perpendicular subcritical shock structure in a collisional plasma experiment
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Published version
Supporting information
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We present a study of perpendicular subcritical shocks in a collisional laboratory plasma. Shocks are
produced by placing obstacles into the supermagnetosonic outflow from an inverse wire array z pinch. We
demonstrate the existence of subcritical shocks in this regime and find that secondary shocks form in the
downstream. Detailed measurements of the subcritical shock structure confirm the absence of a
hydrodynamic jump. We calculate the classical (Spitzer) resistive diffusion length and show that it is
approximately equal to the shock width. We measure little heating across the shock (< 10% of the ion
kinetic energy) which is consistent with an absence of viscous dissipation.
produced by placing obstacles into the supermagnetosonic outflow from an inverse wire array z pinch. We
demonstrate the existence of subcritical shocks in this regime and find that secondary shocks form in the
downstream. Detailed measurements of the subcritical shock structure confirm the absence of a
hydrodynamic jump. We calculate the classical (Spitzer) resistive diffusion length and show that it is
approximately equal to the shock width. We measure little heating across the shock (< 10% of the ion
kinetic energy) which is consistent with an absence of viscous dissipation.
Date Issued
2022-11-22
Date Acceptance
2022-10-25
Citation
Physical Review Letters, 2022, 129 (22)
ISSN
0031-9007
Publisher
American Physical Society
Journal / Book Title
Physical Review Letters
Volume
129
Issue
22
Copyright Statement
© 2022 American Physical Society.
Identifier
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.225001
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
225001
Date Publish Online
2022-11-22