Dynamics of an Erupting Arched Magnetic Flux Rope in a Laboratory Plasma Experiment

A laboratory plasma experiment has been built to study the eruption of arched magnetic flux ropes (AMFRs) in the presence of a large magnetized plasma. This experiment simulates the eruption of solar AMFRs in two essential steps: i) it produces an AMFR (n= 6.0 × 1012 cm−3, Te = 14 eV, B ≈ 1 kilo-gauss, L= 0.51 m) with a persistent appearance that lasts several Alfvén transit times using a lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) plasma source, and ii) it generates controlled plasma flows from the footpoints of the AMFR using laser beams. An additional LaB6 plasma source generates a large magnetized plasma in the background. The laser-generated flows trigger the eruption by injecting dense plasma and magnetic flux into the AMFR. The experiment is highly reproducible and runs continuously with a 0.5 Hz repetition rate; hence, several thousand identical loop eruptions are routinely generated and their spatio-temporal evolution is recorded in three-dimensions using computer-controlled movable probes. Measurements demonstrate striking similarities between the erupting laboratory and solar arched magnetic flux ropes.