Development of new experimental setup focusing on long-pulse magnetic reconnection by using rotating magnetic field technique.

A new closed-type experimental setup to achieve a long-pulse magnetic reconnection in weakly ionized plasmas was developed by using a rotating magnetic field (RMF) technique. The experimental setup has a cylindrical vacuum vessel in which two sets of four antennas are equipped to generate RMF which drives steady azimuthal electron current in two torus plasmas. This device provided a quasi-steady magnetic reconnection condition in weakly ionized plasmas with ionization fraction of less than 1%. The proposed experimental setup will extend the research area of laboratory reconnection experiments and be helpful to comprehend the reconnection process in weakly ionized plasmas such as solar chromosphere.