Driving Flows in Laboratory Astrophysical Plasma Jets: The Mochi.LabJet Experiment

Abstract

Mochi.Labjet is a new experiment at the University of Washington developed to investigate the interaction of shear flows in plasma jets with boundary conditions similar to an accretion disc system. This thesis details the engineering design and first plasmas of the Mochi.Labjet experiment. The experiment required construction of a new three electrode plasma gun with azimuthal symmetric gas injection, two optically-isolated pulsed power supplies for generating and sustaining plasma, and one optically-isolated pulsed power supply for generating a background magnetic field. Optical isolation is achieved with four custom circuits: the TTL-optical transmitter, optical-TTL receiver, optical-relay, and optical-tachometer circuits. First plasmas, during the commissioning phase of the apparatus, show evidence of flared jet structures with significant azimuthal symmetry.