  We describe a laboratory plasma physics experiment at Los Alamos National
Laboratory that uses two merging supersonic plasma jets formed and launched by
pulsed-power-driven rail guns. The jets can be formed using any atomic species
or mixture available in a compressed-gas bottle and have the following nominal
initial parameters at the railgun nozzle exit: $n_e\approx n_i \sim 10^{16}$
cm$^{-3}$, $T_e \approx T_i \approx 1.4$ eV, $V_{\rm jet}\approx 30$-100 km/s,
mean charge $\bar{Z}\approx 1$, sonic Mach number $M_s\equiv V_{\rm
jet}/C_s>10$, jet diameter $=5$ cm, and jet length $\approx 20$ cm. Experiments
to date have focused on the study of merging-jet dynamics and the shocks that
form as a result of the interaction, in both collisional and collisionless
regimes with respect to the inter-jet classical ion mean free path, and with
and without an applied magnetic field. However, many other studies are also
possible, as discussed in this paper.
