Control of Transient Static Electric Field in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment with Large Guide Field

Abstract

In the magnetic reconnection in the existence of a high guide field, the inductive reconnection electric field and the static in-plane electric field are generated in the reconnection upstream and downstream regions. This self-generated static electric field determines the plasma motion and has large impacts on the energy conversion process in the guide field reconnection. In this paper, to elucidate the effect of the in-plane electric field, a novel experimental technique is proposed to actively control the electrical boundary condition of the magnetic field lines in the downstream region. Moreover, the capability of the developed technique was demonstrated by showing the controllability of the in-plane static electric field using separate electrodes with fast semiconductor switching devices.