  This work describes a laboratory plasma experiment and initial results which
should give insight into the magnetic dynamics of accretion discs and jets. A
high-speed multiple-frame CCD camera reveals images of the formation and
helical instability of a collimated plasma, similar to MHD models of disc jets,
and also plasma detachment associated with spheromak formation, which may have
relevance to disc winds and flares. The plasmas are produced by a planar
magnetized coaxial gun. The resulting magnetic topology is dependent on the
details of magnetic helicity injection, namely the force-free state eigenvalue
alpha_gun imposed by the coaxial gun.

Astrophysics