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At least 163 records · Page 9

Gas-triggered inverse pinch switch.

Inverse-pinch triggered gap switch converted to gas-triggered operation by adding discharge constrictor and ablating inner column insulator

GAS DISCHARGE↗

Heating of pinch devices with lasers

Pinch devices under laser heating, determining plasma density and temperature and confining magnetic field strength with thermodynamic model

Vlases, G. C.↗

Dynamics of the inverse pinch.

Experiments are performed on the plasma produced in a large inverse pinch using argon with no applied magnetic fields or preheating. A direct observation is made of the precursor ionization which initially raises the electron temperature and electrical conductivity. Calculations show that most of the mass is entrained in the current sheet, but that less than complete sweeping occurs at the lower velocities. The shock which is embedded in the current sheet closely resembles an ordinary gasdynamic shock. Consideration of the shock jump condition derived from the induction equation is shown to determine the frequent inability of the shock to separate from the current sheet.

Weisbach, M. F.↗

Magnetic pinch compression of silica glass

SiO2 glass has been irreversibly densified by pressures up to 250 kbar produced in a magnetic pinch apparatus. The threshold for significant densification was about 60 kbar. The recovered densities agree better with published shock wave results than with static results.

Bless, S. J.↗

Behavior of some singly ionized, heavy-ion impurities during compression in a theta-pinch plasma

The introduction of a small percentage of an impurity gas containing a desired element into a theta-pinch plasma is a standard procedure used to investigate the spectra and atomic processes of the element. This procedure assumes that the mixing ratio of impurity-to-fill gases remains constant during the collapse and heating phase. Spectroscopic investigations of the constant-mixing-ratio assumption for a 2% neon and argon impurity verifies the assumption only for the neon impurity. However, for the 2% argon impurity, only 20 to 25% of the argon is in the high-temperature compressed plasma. It is concluded that the constant-mixing-ratio assumption is not applicable to the argon impurity.

Jalufka, N. W.↗

Dense plasma focus production in a hypocycloidal pinch

A type of high-power pinch apparatus consisting of disk electrodes was developed, and diagnostic measurements to study its mechanism of dense plasma production were made. The collapse fronts of the current sheets are well organized, and dense plasma focuses are produced on the axis with radial stability in excess of 5 microns. A plasma density greater than 10 to the 18th power/cubic cm was determined with Stark broadening and CO2 laser absorption. A plasma temperature of approximately 1 keV was measured with differential transmission of soft X-rays through thin foils. Essentially complete absorption of a high-energy CO2 laser beam was observed. The advantages of this apparatus over the coaxial plasma focus are in (1) the plasma volume, (2) the stability, (3) the containment time, (4) the easy access to additional heating by laser or electron beams, and (5) the possibility of scaling up to a multiple array for high-power operation.

Lee, J. H.↗

Production of dense plasmas in a hypocycloidal pinch apparatus

A high-power pinch apparatus consisting of disk electrodes was developed, and diagnostic measurements to study its mechanism of dense plasma production have been made. The collapse fronts of the current sheets are well organized, and dense plasma foci are produced on the axis with radial stability in excess of 5 microsec. A plasma density greater than 10 to the 18th power per cu cm is determined with Stark broadening and CO2 laser absorption. Essentially complete absorption of a high-energy CO2 laser beam has been observed. A plasma temperature of approximately 1 keV is measured with differential transmission of soft X-rays through thin foils. The advantages of this apparatus over the coaxial plasma focus are improvements in (1) plasma volume, (2) stability, (3) containment time, (4) access to additional heating by laser or electron beams, and (5) the possibility of scaling up to a multiple array for high-power operation.

Lee, J. H.↗