Penetration of a laser-produced plasma across an applied magnetic field

The interaction which occurs between a plasma and an externally applied magnetic field is an important process in natural and laboratory plasmas. In experiments performed at the Nevada Terawatt Facility, a plasma flow was created by ablating a polyethylene target with a high-intensity laser (10 J in 1 ps, 10 TW). This laser-produced plasma interacted with an azimuthal magnetic field produced by passing a 0.6 MA (200 ns rise time) current through a straight cylindrical electrode. In the experiment, the plasma was observed to penetrate the magnetic field. The penetration is due to E × B drift caused by the polarization of the plasma plume.