Perpendicular Subcritical Shock Structure in a Collisional Plasma Experiment

We present a study of perpendicular subcritical shocks in a collisional laboratory plasma. Shocks are produced by placing obstacles into the supermagnetosonic outflow from an inverse wire array z pinch. We demonstrate the existence of subcritical shocks in this regime and find that secondary shocks form in the downstream. Detailed measurements of the subcritical shock structure confirm the absence of a hydrodynamic jump. We calculate the classical (Spitzer) resistive diffusion length and show that it is approximately equal to the shock width. We measure little heating across the shock (< 10% of the ion kinetic energy) which is consistent with an absence of viscous dissipation.

Automated summary

This study presents the investigation of perpendicular subcritical shocks in a collisional laboratory plasma. The shocks are generated by placing obstacles in the supermagnetosonic outflow from an inverse wire array z pinch. The existence of subcritical shocks in this regime is demonstrated, and it is found that secondary shocks form in the downstream. Detailed measurements confirm the absence of a hydrodynamic jump in the subcritical shock structure. The calculated resistive diffusion length is approximately equal to the shock width. Little heating is observed across the shock, indicating a lack of viscous dissipation.