Mode Conversion and Period Doubling at Plasma-$β$ Unity in an Alfvén-Wave Experiment with Liquid Rubidium

We report Alfvén-wave experiments with liquid rubidium at the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory (HLD). Reaching up to 63 T, the pulsed magnetic field exceeds the critical value of 54 T at which the Alfvén speed becomes equal to the sound speed (plasma-$β$ unity). At this threshold we observe a period doubling of an applied 8 kHz CW excitation, a clear footprint for a parametric resonance between magnetosonic waves and Alfvén waves.

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