The Effect of External Magnetic Fields on the MRT Instability in MagLIF
Abstract
Recent experiments on MagLIF which incorporate an external B-field suggest that the MRT instability within the liner has a different behavior than without the B-field. Previous work by Chandrasekhar and Harris have illustrated how the MRT growth rate, assuming fixed liner density and fixed acceleration, can change due to the presence of an external B-field. In this work, we show how the growth rate of the MRT instability is dynamically affected by the rapidly varying acceleration, liner density, and surface magnetic field, which is composed of the external B-field and the drive B-field of the liner in the MagLIF experiments. In addition, we also examine the effects of finite liner resistivity on MRT growth, which gives rise to an additional time scale corresponding to magnetic diffusion. We discuss the implications of this result for future MagLIF designs.
Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- October 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014APS..DPPJP8093H