Abstract:
Background In recent years, magnetized laser-plasma research has gained significant importance in multiple frontier fields such as magneto-inertial confinement fusion, magnetic reconnection, collisionless shocks, and magnetohydrodynamic instabilities. Pulsed magnetic field devices have become the mainstream experimental approach, as they can generate magnetic field parameters that meet experimental requirements in terms of strength, spatial scale, and duration. Such devices have been integrated into multiple large-scale laser facilities worldwide, and our research group has also successfully developed several pulsed magnetic field systems adaptable to laser setups of different scales. However, existing devices still face two major challenges: first, strong electromagnetic interference affects data acquisition and equipment safety; second, advances in physical experiments demand higher magnetic field strengths.
Purpose This study presents a novel coaxial-structure pulsed magnetic field device, designed to optimize the circuit configuration for suppressing electromagnetic interference (EMI) and enhancing magnetic field strength, thereby providing a more reliable high-field environment for magnetized laser-plasma experiments.
Methods The experiment employs an all-coaxial architecture to enhance electromagnetic compatibility. Multiple soft coaxial cables are connected in parallel to link a 5 μF high-voltage coaxial capacitor with a rigid coaxial transmission line inside the vacuum target chamber, thereby minimizing system inductance.
Results At 40 kV charging voltage, a discharge current with a peak intensity of 105 kA, a rise time of 1.2 μs, and a flat top width of 1.4 μs is produced, which generates an intense magnetic field of 22 T in the center of a three-turn magnetic field coil of 12 mm diameter. Compared with our previous pulsed intense magnetic field device, the present device can generate larger current and stronger magnetic field, while the free-space EM noise and potential jitter (voltage fluctuation) of the vacuum chamber are significantly reduced.
Conclusions Experimental results demonstrate that the key performance of this device has reached the mainstream advanced level of international counterparts, such as relevant systems from the U.S. LLNL, France's LULI, and Germany’s HZDR. This device combines high magnetic field strength, microsecond-level flat-top stability, and low electromagnetic interference, providing precisely controllable strong magnetic field experimental conditions—previously difficult to achieve—for frontier research areas such as magneto-inertial confinement fusion, laboratory astrophysics, magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, and pulsed laser deposition coating.