Experimental demonstration of an inertial collimation mechanism in nested outflows
Abstract
Interaction between a central outflow and a surrounding wind is common in astrophysical sources powered by accretion. Understanding how the interaction might help to collimate the inner central outflow is of interest for assessing astrophysical jet formation paradigms. In this context, we studied the interaction between two nested supersonic plasma flows generated by focusing a long pulse high-energy laser beam onto a solid target. A nested geometry was created by shaping the energy distribution at the focal spot with a dedicated phase plate. Optical and X-ray diagnostics were used to study the interacting flows. Experimental results and numerical hydrodynamic simulations indeed show the formation of strongly collimated jets. Our work experimentally confirms the "shock-focused inertial confinement" mechanism proposed in previous theoretical astrophysics investigations.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1403.4885,
title = {Experimental demonstration of an inertial collimation mechanism in nested outflows},
author = {R. Yurchak and A. Ravasio and A. Pelka and S. Pikuz and E. Falize and T. Vinci and M. Koenig and B. Loupias and A. Benuzzi-Mounaix and M. Fatenejad and P. Tzeferacos and D. Q. Lamb and E. G. Blackman},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1403.4885},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
6 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; accepted by Physical Review Letters