Abstract
We report a laser-plasma experiment that was carried out at the LMJ-PETAL facility and realized the first magnetized, turbulent, supersonic () plasma with a large magnetic Reynolds number () in the laboratory. Initial seed magnetic fields were amplified, but only moderately so, and did not become dynamically significant. A notable absence of magnetic energy at scales smaller than the outer scale of the turbulent cascade was also observed. Our results support the notion that moderately supersonic, low-magnetic-Prandtl-number plasma turbulence is inefficient at amplifying magnetic fields compared to its subsonic, incompressible counterpart.
- Received 20 August 2020
- Revised 7 June 2021
- Accepted 17 September 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.175002
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society