Identification of the electron-diffusion region during magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma.

We report the first identification of the electron-diffusion region, where demagnetized electrons are accelerated to super-Alfvénic speed, in a reconnecting laboratory plasma. The width of the electron-diffusion region scales with the electron skin depth [ approximately (5.5-7.5)c/omega_{pe}] and the peak electron outflow velocity scales with the electron Alfvén velocity [ approximately (0.12-0.16)V_{eA}], independent of ion mass.