Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Planetary, stellar, and galactic magnetic fields are caused by the hydromagnetic dynamo action in moving electrically conducting fluids. While theory and numerics of hydromagnetic dynamos have flourished during the last decades, an experimental validation of the effect was missing until recently. Therefore, it was a nice coincidence that, after years of preparations, the large-scale liquid sodium dynamo facilities in Riga and Karlsruhe became operative nearly simultaneously at the end of 1999. Since those pioneering times, a number of runs have been carried out in either place, yielding reproducible data on the kinematic as well as on the saturation regime. With the main focus on the Riga experiment, I give a summary of what has been achieved so far and what is left for future dynamo experiments.