Plasma cloud dynamics in the process of expansion to a magnetized background medium

KROT is used to perform experimental studies of the dynamics of a plasma cloud produced by a small-size plasma gun, as the cloud expands to background plasma and vacuum in an ambient magnetic field. Due to the record-breaking dimensions of the plasma column (more than one meter across the magnetic field), the regime of “boundary-free” background ionization is realized, which is desirable for modeling of large-size astrophysical and geophysical phenomena. The set of effects demonstrated in the sub-Alfven regime of cloud expansion, which are typical of laboratory and space experiments, includes formation of a diamagnetic cavern, deceleration of cloud ions by the background plasma, and development of high-frequency electromagnetic and structural cloud instabilities. The effect of plasma flow collimation has been discovered in the process of cloud expansion across the magnetic field with formation of a structure of the “pancake” type.

Korobkov S.V., Gushchin M.E., Gundorin V.I., Zudin I.Yu., Aidakina N.A., Strikovskiy A.V., and Nikolenko A.S. A simple design erosional plasma gun made of a coaxial cable with polyethylene insulation // Technical Physics Letters, 2019, V. 45, No. 3, P. 228–231.

Gushchin M.E., Korobkov S.V., Terekhin V.A., Strikovskiy A.V., Gundorin V.I., Zudin I.Yu., Aidakina N.A., and Nikolenko A.S. Laboratory simulation of the dynamics of a dense plasma cloud expanding in a magnetized background plasma on a Krot large-scale device // JETP Letters, 2018, V. 108, No. 6, P. 391–395.