New Results in the Riga Dynamo Experiment

It is widely believed that almost all magnetic fields in a natural environment are the result of the dynamo process - the field generation in a moving nearly homogeneous electroconducting fluid in the depth of celestial bodies such as Earth, most of the planets, Sun, other stars and even galaxies.
We are not going to model in the laboratory any particular celestial body. Our aim is to demonstrate the very idea that the intense motion in the large volume of a good electroconducting liquid creates a magnetic field. As the working fluid serve 2 m^3 of molten sodium, which is the best electroconducting liquid available. It is filled in a 3 m long and 0.8 m thick cylinder. By means of two thin stainless steel internal walls the cylinder is divided into three coaxial channels. The swirling sodium circulation within the two central channels is produced by a propeller at the top of the cylinder powered by two 100 kW motors. When the circulation is fast enough the magnetic field appears. The field pattern slowly rotates around the axis of the cylinder hence any field sensor produces an AC signal.
The first results were reported in the third and fifth MHD days. In the present meeting we will touch upon such details as the radial profiles of field pattern, the turbulent spectra of field, the field produced motions in sodium etc.