We’ve got a new paper out, based on some work done at MAGPIE shortly before I left. Instead of using the full one million amps to drive something using MAGPIE, we used a smaller pulsed-power device to produce a plume of plasma using a ‘plasma gun’.
My last blog post focused on new hardware for magnetic reconnection experiments. Since then, I’ve published two new papers using this hardware, as well as an improved version which allows us to study reconnection whilst varying the plasma density and magnetic field strength.
Since handing in my PHD thesis in March, I’ve been working as a Research Assistant (Post Doc) in MAGPIE. At first I was helping out others with their experiments and getting back into the flow of things, but yesterday I had the chance to try out some new hardware I’d made to do magnetic reconnection experiments.
Plasmas tend to be quite hot. This is because they consist of electrons and ions, which are strongly attracted to…
The title of this blog post is an homage to a well written and excellent book on the subject by…
Hidden Canyon, Zion National Park, Utah. Own Work. The plasmas we make on MAGPIE don’t hang around for long –…