Expansion and thermalization processes of plasma flow on the BSG-II device

Abstract

The expansion process of a collision-dominated theta-pinch plasma in a homogeneous magnetic channel and the thermalization process of the kinetic energy of this plasma flow by a magnetic mirror field are studied on the BSG-II device. Previously it was reported that shock phenomena due to a mirror field were observed by several methods of measurement. In this paper four experimental results are presented: (1) the expansion of plasma along the homogeneous magnetic channel is adiabatic; it is well described by a model for one-dimensional isentropic flow of collision-dominated plasma; (2) the flow is supersonic and the occurrence of a shock in front of the mirror field is in accordance with a criterion concerning the supersonic-sonic transition of plasma flow; (3) the rate of plasma loss through the mirror field is reduced by the occurrence of the shock; (4) the values of the plasma parameters measured before and behind the shock front satisfy the Rankine-Hugoniot relations, though plasma pressure, flow velocity and Mach number are time-dependent.