Pulsed-power driven HED plasma experiments on the MAGPIE facility*

We present results from recent high energy density plasma experiments conducted at the MAGPIE pulsed-power generator (1.4 MA peak-current, 240 ns rise-time) [1]. The plasmas for these experiments are formed by using either current-driven ablation of wires in inverse wire arrays, or ablation of targets by X-ray pulses generated by wire array z-pinch implosions [2]. A comprehensive suite of spatially and temporally resolved diagnostics [3] includes self-emission imaging (optical and XUV), laser interferometry (355 nm and 532 nm wavelength), Faraday rotation imaging (1053 nm wavelength), and collective optical Thomson Scattering (532 nm wavelength, 2 J) [4]. Recent experimental campaigns have been focused on studies of the properties of shocks formed in collisions of counter-streaming supersonic plasma flows. The use of x-ray ablation allows formation of plasma flows from identical or different target materials (e.g. Si, CH, C) for studies of the structure and stability of the contact discontinuity in the stagnated plasma, both with and without the presence of a dynamically significant magnetic field. We will also present experiments investigating interaction of plasma flows with miniature magnetised obstacles.  

[1] I. H. Mitchell et al. RSI 76, 1533 (1996)

[2] J. W. D. Halliday et al., PoP 29, 042107(2022)

[3] G. F. Swadling et al. RSI 85, 11E502 (2014)

[4] L. G. Suttle et al., RSI 92, 033542(2021)