Characterizing Rotation in a Plasma MRI Experiment

Details Characterizing Rotation in a Plasma MRI Experiment Characterizing Rotation in a Plasma MRI Experiment

May 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21641006c&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #216, #410.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.818

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Scientific paper

The Plasma Couette Experiment (PCX) is underway to investigate a nearly unmagnetized, differentially rotating plasma. A host of astrophysically motivated processes can be studied, including the magnetorotational instability (MRI), a mechanism that could account for the efficient angular momentum transport in accretion disks. Observation of MRI in a laboratory plasma would enhance our understanding of how accretion occurs in a variety of astrophysical objects, including planet and star forming systems, galactic nuclei, and black holes. Depending on plasma parameters, it may be possible to experimentally identify effects beyond ideal MHD in MRI theory. For example, the addition of the Hall term can lead to growth rates that depend on whether the magnetic field is parallel or anti-parallel to the rotation axis. In PCX, the plasma is confined by a cylindrical, axisymmetric, highly localized ring cusp magnetic field at the boundary. Electrodes are positioned between the magnet rings and biased with alternating polarity so that the resulting electric field induces azimuthal ExB drift. Density and temperature profiles are measured using a swept, single tip Langmuir probe. As plasma begins to rotate, the plasma density and potential are expected to hollow out, with the electron pressure gradient balancing the outward centrifugal force. To study plasma rotation, ion flow velocity and plasma potential are measured with Mach and emissive probes. Measurements of plasma characteristics will be presented, and the feasibility of observing the MRI will be discussed.

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