Compression of an accelerated plasma cloud in a cone
| Autor: | T. Manegold, J. Wiechula, Marcus Iberler, S. Faik, Joachim Jacoby, C. Benzing, A. Michel, P. Tavana |
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| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Physics of Plasmas. 26:033512 |
| ISSN: | 1089-7674 1070-664X |
| DOI: | 10.1063/1.5040440 |
| Popis: | This paper describes first results of a novel compression method for a plasma by acceleration into a glass cone. The plasma is generated by a pulsed-power-driven coaxial plasma accelerator, prefilled with 2% hydrogen in a helium mixture. The pulse forming network of the experiment has a total capacitance of 27 μF at a maximum voltage of 10 kV. The low inductance of 130 nH leads to an average frequency of about 86 kHz and high current rise rates in the 10 11 A s range. Due to the high current of up to 150 kA, the Lorentz force accelerates the plasma depending on pressure and applied voltage to velocities in the 10 4 m s order. After ejection, the plasma moves into several cone geometries, placed at the end of the electrodes. The conducted studies focus on the Stark-broadening of spectral lines to determine the electron density changes due to the compression. Because of the wide broadening at high electron densities, the well-known Hβ line broadening method is not eligible for cone compressed plasmas. Alternatively, the broadening of the Hα line and a copper line has been used. The achieved electron densities could be increased approximately two orders of magnitude from 1015 cm−3 without the cone to 1017–1018 cm−3 with cone compression. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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