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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

A 100 KW Class Applied-field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster
Published on: December 22, 2018
Dynamic and stagnating plasma flow leading to magnetic-flux-tube collimation
1California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, USA.
Abstract:
Highly collimated, plasma-filled magnetic-flux tubes are frequently observed on galactic, stellar, and laboratory scales. We propose that a single, universal magnetohydrodynamic pumping process explains why such collimated, plasma-filled magnetic-flux tubes are ubiquitous. Experimental evidence from carefully diagnosed laboratory simulations of astrophysical jets confirms this assertion and is reported here. The magnetohydrodynamic process pumps plasma into a magnetic-flux tube and the stagnation of the resulting flow causes this flux tube to become collimated.
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