Experimental evidence for magnetorotational instability in a Taylor-Couette flow under the influence of a helical magnetic field.
A recent Letter [R. Hollerbach and G. Rüdiger, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 124501 (2005)] has shown that the threshold for the onset of the magnetorotational instability in a Taylor-Couette flow is dramatically reduced if both axial and azimuthal magnetic fields are imposed. In agreement with this prediction, we present results of a Taylor-Couette experiment with the liquid metal alloy GaInSn, showing evidence for the existence of the magnetorotational instability at Reynolds numbers of order 1000 and Hartmann numbers of order 10.
Stefani
Frank
F
Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, P.O. Box 510119, D-01314 Dresden, Germany.
Gundrum
Thomas
T
Gerbeth
Gunter
G
Rüdiger
Günther
G
Schultz
Manfred
M
Szklarski
Jacek
J
Hollerbach
Rainer
R