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Self-excitation in a helical liquid metal flow: the Riga dynamo experiments

Part of: 50 years of Mean Field Electrodynamics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2018

A. Gailitis ,
G. Gerbeth ,
Th. Gundrum ,
O. Lielausis ,
G. Lipsbergs ,
E. Platacis  and
F. Stefani
A. Gailitis
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, University of Latvia, LV-2169 Salaspils 1, Riga, Latvia
G. Gerbeth
Affiliation:
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Bautzner Landstr. 400, D-01318 Dresden, Germany
Th. Gundrum
Affiliation:
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Bautzner Landstr. 400, D-01318 Dresden, Germany
O. Lielausis
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, University of Latvia, LV-2169 Salaspils 1, Riga, Latvia
G. Lipsbergs
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, University of Latvia, LV-2169 Salaspils 1, Riga, Latvia
E. Platacis
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, University of Latvia, LV-2169 Salaspils 1, Riga, Latvia
F. Stefani*
Affiliation:
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Bautzner Landstr. 400, D-01318 Dresden, Germany
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

The homogeneous dynamo effect is at the root of magnetic field generation in cosmic bodies, including planets, stars and galaxies. While the underlying theory had increasingly flourished since the middle of the 20th century, hydromagnetic dynamos were not realized in the laboratory until 1999. On 11 November 1999, this situation changed with the first observation of a kinematic dynamo in the Riga experiment. Since that time, a series of experimental campaigns has provided a wealth of data on the kinematic and the saturated regime. This paper is intended to give a comprehensive survey about these experiments, to summarize their main results and to compare them with numerical simulations.

Keywords

astrophysical plasmas
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 84 , Issue 3 , June 2018 , 735840301
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

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