1
|
Gekelman W, Pribyl P, Lucky Z, Drandell M, Leneman D, Maggs J, Vincena S, Van Compernolle B, Tripathi SKP, Morales G, Carter TA, Wang Y, DeHaas T. The upgraded Large Plasma Device, a machine for studying frontier basic plasma physics. THE REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS 2016; 87:025105. [PMID: 26931889 DOI: 10.1063/1.4941079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2015] [Accepted: 01/10/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
In 1991 a manuscript describing an instrument for studying magnetized plasmas was published in this journal. The Large Plasma Device (LAPD) was upgraded in 2001 and has become a national user facility for the study of basic plasma physics. The upgrade as well as diagnostics introduced since then has significantly changed the capabilities of the device. All references to the machine still quote the original RSI paper, which at this time is not appropriate. In this work, the properties of the updated LAPD are presented. The strategy of the machine construction, the available diagnostics, the parameters available for experiments, as well as illustrations of several experiments are presented here.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- W Gekelman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - P Pribyl
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - Z Lucky
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - M Drandell
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - D Leneman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - J Maggs
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - S Vincena
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - B Van Compernolle
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - S K P Tripathi
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - G Morales
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - T A Carter
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - Y Wang
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - T DeHaas
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Eliasson B, Shukla PK. Dynamics of whistler spheromaks in magnetized plasmas. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2007; 99:205005. [PMID: 18233151 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.99.205005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2007] [Revised: 07/16/2007] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Recent laboratory experiments [Stenzel et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 095004 (2006)10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.095004] have demonstrated interesting phenomena of propagating nonlinear whistler structures (spheromaks) and stationary field-reversed configurations, whose magnetic fields exceed the ambient magnetic field strength. Our objective here is to present simulation studies for these nonlinear whistler structures based on the three-dimensional nonlinear electron magnetohydrodynamic equations. The robustness and longevity of the propagating whistler spheromaks found in the experiments are confirmed numerically. Varying the toroidal field of the spheromak in the initial conditions, we find that the polarity and the amplitude of the toroidal field determine the propagation direction and speed of the spheromak. Our simulation results are in excellent agreement with those observed in the laboratory experiments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- B Eliasson
- Institut für Theoretische Physik IV, Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
| | | |
Collapse
|