The interaction of a magnetized plasma flow with strongly magnetized bodies in HEDP experiments*

Interactions of fast-streaming, magnetized plasmas can result in a wide range of fundamental plasma physics processes such as the formation of MHD shocks, magnetic turbulence, reconnection and wave-particle interactions.

We present experiments where a plasma flow generated by the ablation of a pulsed-power driven wire array interacts with strongly magnetized obstacles. The plasma flow is super-Alfvénic (M_A=2) and contains an embedded magnetic field (B~2T, Re_M~100). The magnetization and magnetic field geometry of the obstacles can be controlled to study a range of interaction types and topologies. The choice of wire material also allows a variation of the collisionality of the plasma, as well as the strength of radiative cooling.

The detailed structure of the interactions is measured using Thomson scattering, laser interferometry and Faraday rotation diagnostics, providing measurements of the flow velocity, plasma temperature, electron density and magnetic field distributions of the plasma.