Laboratory experiments simulating solar wind driven magnetospheres

Magnetosphere-solar wind interactions are simulated in a laboratory setting with a small permanent magnet driven by two types of supersonic plasma wind sources. The first higher speed, shorter duration plasma wind is from a laser blow-off plasma while the second longer duration, lower speed plasma wind is produced with a capacitor discharge driven coaxial electrode creating plasma jets. The stand off distance of the solar wind from the magnetosphere was measured to be 1.7±0.3 cm for the laser-produced plasma experiment and 0.87±0.03 cm for the coaxial electrode plasma experiment. The stand off distance of the plasma was calculated using data from HYADES [J. T. Larsen and S. M. Lane, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transf. 51, 179 (1994)] as 1.46±0.02 cm for the laser-produced plasma, and estimated for the coaxial plasma jet as rmp=0.72±0.07 cm. Plasma build up on the poles of the magnets, consistent with magnetosphere systems, was also observed.