Plasma dynamics in MAGPIE

MAGPIE (the MAGnetized Plasma Interaction Device) is a helicon-excited linear magnetic mirror plasma device operated in PRL. Its primary purpose is to produce a plasma environment suitable for study of plasma-material interactions. It is also a testbed for basic plasma physics studies in non-uniform magnetic fields, including helicon wave heating mechanisms, the establishment of plasma turbulence and flows, and the force balance.

Left: A photo of the coherence imaging system for measuring the ion flows and temperatures in the MAGPIE device.
Right: a photograph of the MAGPIE argon plasma showing compression in the magnetic mirror region.

Example projections of the intensity and azimuthal flow of argon ion plasma in a MAGPIE magnetic mirror configuration discharge with 1kW rf heating at 13.56MHz. The results are a collage of processed interferometric images obtained from a linear scan along the plasma axis.

The apparent flow reversal on propagation into the high field region may be due to the strong magnetic curvature in this region. This work aims to understand the generation of plasma flows, both azimuthal and axial, in a magnetized helicon-wave-excited plasma.

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