Analysis of 3D turbulence in a supersonic rotating mirror

Rotating mirrors present a novel research direction in magnetic confinement fusion. This approach typically employs a large background magnetic field

combined with an externally supplied current, generating plasma rotation at supersonic speeds. Compared with more complex magnetic configurations, this method offers a potentially simpler design for fusion reactors.

In this work, we solve time-dependent MHD equations of Huang and Hassam in a rotating supersonic mirror using the fast and parallelized Dedalus python package.

We can solve the model as a 2.5D system to obtain a steady state equilibrium or as 3D model to study the turbulent dynamics. We then analyze the effect of adding and artificially removing velcoty shear on turbulence. Similar to Hassam and Huangs work, we find that the dominant mechanism stability MHD turbulence is a large velocity shear. In this talk, we will present an in-depth analysis of turbulence for this system.