| Plasma interacts with magnetic fields in a variety of natural and laboratory settings. While a magnetic field "traps" isolated charged particles, plasma penetration across magnetic field is observed in many situations where a plasma-magnetic interface exists. For example, in the realm of pulsed power technology, this behavior is important for magnetically insulated transmission lines and for plasma opening switches. In the realm of astrophysics, the nature of the interaction between the solar wind plasma and the Earth's magnetic field affects the reliability of telecommunication devices and satellites.; Experiments were performed at the Nevada Terawatt Facility to investigate how a conductive plasma penetrates an externally applied magnetic field. In experiment, a plasma flow was produced by laser ablation. This plasma was observed to penetrate an externally applied magnetic field produced by a 0.6 MA pulsed power generator. In experiment, the duration of the laser pulse was changed by three orders of magnitude, from ns (GW pulse power) to ps (TW). This resulted in a significant variation of the plasma parameters, which in turn led to the actuation of different magnetic field penetration mechanisms. |
