title: Magnetic reconnection between colliding magnetized laser-produced plasma plumes.
abstract: Observations of magnetic reconnection between colliding plumes of magnetized laser-produced plasma are presented. Two counterpropagating plasma flows are created by irradiating oppositely placed plastic (CH) targets with 1.8-kJ, 2-ns laser beams on the Omega EP Laser System. The interaction region between the plumes is prefilled with a low-density background plasma and magnetized by an externally applied magnetic field, imposed perpendicular to the plasma flow, and initialized with an X-type null point geometry with B=0 at the midplane and B=8  T at the targets. The counterflowing plumes sweep up and compress the background plasma and the magnetic field into a pair of magnetized ribbons, which collide, stagnate, and reconnect at the midplane, allowing the first detailed observations of a stretched current sheet in laser-driven reconnection experiments. The dynamics of current sheet formation are in good agreement with first-principles particle-in-cell simulations that model the experiments.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA and Fusion Science Center for Extreme States of Matter, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fiksel
authors.affiliation: Department of Astrophysical Sciences and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.affiliation: Department of Astrophysical Sciences and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhattacharjee
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA and Fusion Science Center for Extreme States of Matter, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Barnak
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA and Fusion Science Center for Extreme States of Matter, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: P-Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Germaschewski
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: S X
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA and Fusion Science Center for Extreme States of Matter, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Nilson