Abstract
The interaction between a supersonically streaming plasma and a spatially increasing longitudinal magnetic field is investigated experimentally. The object of the experiment is to obtain qualitative and quantitative data on this interaction and, in particular, the transition from supersonic to subsonic flow and the attendant shock formation. It is shown that for distances in excess of 50 cm from the gun, where the plasma beam is formed, to the peak of the mirror field and for values of peak mirror field exceeding 3 kG, a supersonic-subsonic flow transition does occur and a shock is formed. The helium plasma beam is produced by a conical theta-pinch gun driven by a capacitor bank with a stored energy of 2.5 kJ. Measurements are made of the plasma density, temperature, and streaming velocity. The experimental results are compared to and found in qualitative agreement with an existing theory which predicts the parameter values for the formation of a shock in a related geometry.
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