Development of Magnetic Field Generator for Generating Magnetized Collisionless Shock Using High Power Laser

Collisionless shocks play important roles for generating high energy particles in outer space. However, detailed mechanisms of collisionless shock formation are not fully understood. 1 In order to clarify physical mechanisms of magnetized collisionless shock formation, we have conducted laboratory experiments using high-power Gekko XII HIPER laser system at Osaka University. To generate the magnetized shock, a vacuum chamber is filled with 5 Torr of N 2 gas with an external magnetic field of several T, and a magnetized N plasma is produced via radiation from the laser-irradiated Al target. However, the discharge voltage for driving the magnetic field is limited to a few kV by Paschen's law. 2 In this study, we developed a magnetic field generator which can apply the magnetic field of several T in N 2 gas with gas pressure of 5 Torr.