Pressure-driven, resistive magnetohydrodynamic interchange instabilities in laser-produced high-energy-density plasmas

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2009 Jul;80(1 Pt 2):016407. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.80.016407. Epub 2009 Jul 15.

Abstract

Recent experiments using proton backlighting of laser-foil interactions provide unique opportunities for studying magnetized plasma instabilities in laser-produced high-energy-density plasmas. Time-gated proton radiograph images indicate that the outer structure of a magnetic field entrained in a hemispherical plasma bubble becomes distinctly asymmetric after the laser turns off. It is shown that this asymmetry is a consequence of pressure-driven, resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) interchange instabilities. In contrast to the predictions made by ideal MHD theory, the increasing plasma resistivity after laser turn-off allows for greater low-mode destabilization (m>1) from reduced stabilization by field-line bending. For laser-generated plasmas presented herein, a mode-number cutoff for stabilization of perturbations with m> approximately [8pibeta(1+D_{m}k_{ perpendicular};{2}gamma_{max};{-1})];{1/2} is found in the linear growth regime. The growth is measured and is found to be in reasonable agreement with model predictions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.