This award supports a research program on the nonlinear interaction of dense plasmas with magnetic fields. The research will be done in a large laboratory plasma in a rarely explored parameter regime where only the electrons interact with the magnetic field, but not the ions, while both species are coupled via space-charge electric fields. The interplay between two different fluids with time-varying electromagnetic fields leads to a variety of unexplored nonlinear effects. This parameter regime is called electron magnetohydrodynamics. Its nonlinear effects may lead to magnetic turbulence which is of intrinsic interest and considered important in magnetic reconnection.
