A new experimental platform was developed, based on the use of supersonic plasma flow from the ablation stage of an inverse wire array z-pinch, for studies of shocks in magnetized high energy density physics plasmas in a well-defined and diagnosable 1-D interaction geometry. The mechanism of flow generation ensures that the plasma flow (Re M $ 50, M S $ 5, M A $ 8, V flow % 100 km/s) has a frozen-in magnetic field at a level sufficient to affect shocks formed by its interaction with obstacles. It is found that in addition to the expected accumulation of stagnated plasma in a thin layer at the surface of a planar obstacle, the presence of the magnetic field leads to the formation of an additional detached density jump in the upstream plasma, at a distance of $c/x pi from the obstacle. Analysis of the data obtained with Thomson scattering, interferometry, and local magnetic probes suggests that the sub-shock develops due to the pile-up of the magnetic flux advected by the plasma flow. V C 2014 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.

The following chapter will discuss and review the physics of pickup ions (PUIs). The interaction of newborn ions from a thruster firing with the solar wind is an example of a pickup ion coupling process. Therefore in this chapter I review the processes of ion pickup and the various heliospheric environments in which they occur such as near to comets, planets and in active release experiments.