Turbulent plasma wind tunnel studies on the Bryn Mawr Experiment (BMX)

An overview and recent progress of activities at the Bryn Mawr Plasma Laboratory (BMPL) is presented. The main experiment at the facility, the Bryn Mawr Experiment (BMX), consists of a 4mF pulse-forming network that generates ~180us of stationary broadband fluctuations of magnetic field and plasma using a magnetized coaxial plasma gun source. A measurement of a dissipation scale, the Taylor microscale, has recently been made with values found on the order of 10-20% of the chamber radius. Wind tunnel velocity parameter space has also been explored through variations of stuffing magnetic field strength of the plasma gun, voltage of the gun discharge, and most recently through an addition of a magnetic nozzle. Measurement of velocity using a two-point time delay correlation technique show that use of the nozzle can increase velocities from approximately 10% the local Alfven speed up to about 50% Alfven speed. Updates on spectral studies are also given.