Applied Physics Seminar | Reconnection of magnetic fields in high power laser-produced plasmas.

Magnetic reconnection is a ubiquitous and important process occurring in plasmas throughout the universe, from the surface of the Sun, to the Earth’s magnetosphere, to accretion discs surrounding black holes. It is also an important phenomenon in laboratory plasmas in fusion energy experiments. Fundamentally, reconnection is the process by which the topology of magnetic fields changes abruptly, leading to a release of energy and thus resulting in particle acceleration and/or plasma heating. Here we will discuss a series of laboratory experiments undertaken using very high power lasers to measure the dynamics and reconnection of very large magnetic fields in a variety of geometries - as well as to explore ways to control this process.