Interferometry of flashboard and cable-gun plasma opening switcheson Hawk

Interferometry of plasma opening switch (POS) plasmas on the Hawk generator has shown many important features of the plasma evolution during conduction and opening. Opening occurs when a low-density region forms at a radial location determined by plasma redistribution during the conduction phase, consistent with J×B forces and the measured plasma distributions produced by the sources alone. High neutral densities have been detected in the POS region during conduction. Low-density plasma appears between the POS and the load at the time current appears in the load, and high-density plasmas appear there later in time. There are two important differences between the density evolution of POS's utilizing flashboard and cable-gun plasma sources. 1) There is a substantial (two-three times) increase in the electron inventory during conduction using cable guns that is not detected using flashboards. This is attributed, primarily, to ionization of ions and neutrals for the cable-gun case. 2) The conduction scaling with plasma density implies that the cable-gun POS has an effective ion mass/charge ratio about double that for the flashboard POS     

Scaling microsecond-conduction-time plasma opening switch operationfrom 2 to 5 MA

We describe experiments in which conduction currents were successfully scaled from 2 to 5 MA for conduction times around 1 μs in a coaxial geometry plasma opening switch (POS) on the 4 MJ ACE 4 driver. Simple models of POS operation, derived from previous work, were used to scale successful results from drivers that operate at microsecond conduction times, but at currents below 1 MA. An MHD model for the conduction phase was verified in which the square root of the plasma density is approximately proportional to the product of conduction time and peak conduction current divided by the switch radius and length. For the opening phase, a model where the POS gap is approximately constant when the local plasma conditions at the beginning of the conduction phase are kept roughly the same is consistent with the observed POS opening voltages of at least 1 MV. The conduction current was increased by increasing the POS cathode radius from 6 to 20 cm while maintaining roughly the same plasma density. This increase in radius resulted in the observed increase in the conduction-current/conduction-time product from 2 to 5 MA μs while maintaining MV POS voltages     

The Jon Beam Opening Switch

Plasma opening switches (POS's) have shown excellent characteristics in pulsed power applications. Proposed POS scaling predicts that the fastest opening time for a given conducted current should occur using a high-velocity low-density plasma as the switch medium. The ion beam opening switch (IBOS) uses a charge-neutral ion beam of 100-300 kV, ? 120 A/cm2 as the switch "plasma." Its velocity of up to 600 cm/?s and density of ~1012/cm3 make this a very fast low-density plasma compared with typical 10 cm/?s and 1013/cm3 POS plasmas. The IBOS has conducted ? 70 kA flowing in a parallel-plate transmission line driven by a 4-? pulser. IBOS opening time is load dependent, being ? 4 ns into a 15-nH load and about twice as long into a 4-? electron diode load. However, switch impedance is not zero during the entire conduction time, rising to ? 3 ? by the time of peak current. Peak current conducted before opening does not vary linearly with either injected ion current or switch axial length. Instead, the conduction current scales with plasma density in the switch, and is nearly independent of switch area until the area is restricted to a narrow (~1 cm) strip.     

等离子体断路开关和电感负载间的功率流特性

利用PIC (particle-in-cell) 方法,结合实验装置的几何结构和实验结果,采用动态开关模型,对微秒等离子体断路开关和电感负载间的功率流特性进行了研究。模拟得到了与实验结果符合较好的开关电压和负载电流波形,并给出了开关下游出现的稀薄等离子体的密度(约1012 cm-3)和速度(约1 cm/ns), 同时也得到了开关下游的空间电流分布。模拟结果表明,开关下游的结构应避免阻抗突变以减少电流损失,同时提高开关阻抗可有利于提高负载上的最大功率。     

100 kA微秒导通时间等离子体断路开关研究

 研制了最大导通电流约为100 kA的微秒导通时间等离子体断路开关,开展了该导通电流下的等离子体断路开关性能实验,得到的负载电流上升时间为54-76 ns,最高开关电压为1.38 MV,最高电压倍增系数达到4.9。建立了导通阶段开关区等离子体运动的二维雪耙模型,初步数值模拟结果表明,该模型对目前开展的实验有较好的预估能力。     

不同驱动电流和电极尺寸下的等离子体断路开关性能

 开展了驱动电流为45,75和105 kA以及阴极直径分别为Φ20 mm和Φ40 mm下的等离子体断路开关性能实验研究。结果表明：随着发生器驱动电流增加,负载电流上升时间逐渐减小,最高电压倍增系数逐渐增加。与阴极直径为Φ20 mm的等离子体开关相比,阴极直径为Φ40 mm的等离子体开关导通时间和负载电流上升时间增加,开关电压和电流转换效率降低。实验获得的最高电压倍增系数和电流转换效率分别为4.9和97%,负载电流上升时间小于100 ns。     

“强光一号”等离子体开关及负载稳定性分析

"强光一号"等离子体断路开关(POS)及负载二极管系统工作性能不够稳定,通过分析数据指出POS等离子体源参数差异性是导致系统不稳定的主要原因。POS等离子体源参数重复性测量结果表明,在开关断路时刻等离子体源瞬时发射等离子体密度重复性极差在10%左右,而开关区间累积等离子体密度极差超过100%。开关区间累积等离子体密度和阴极重粒子发射会对POS断路性能产生显著影响。计算表明开关区间累积等离子体密度差异对POS断路电流阈值影响达到200kA,与运行数据统计结果一致;在断路电流阈值相同的条件下,阴极物质逸出对二极管电压影响显著,MCNP程序计算结果表明,产生辐射剂量差别可以达到80%,与统计数据相当。     

等离子体断路开关装置上的多丝Z箍缩初步实验

 开展了基于等离子体断路开关的脉冲功率源驱动多丝Z箍缩负载初步实验，实验中采用了2根或4根钨丝组成的环形阵列，其中钨丝的直径分别为7 mm和20 mm。利用高速扫描摄影获取钨丝电爆炸和箍缩过程中等离子体自发光的物理图像。实验结果表明：导通电流为105 kA的等离子体断路开关将67%~78%的电流转换至金属丝阵负载上，负载电流上升沿为84~110 ns。高速扫描相机观察到了钨丝电爆炸形成晕等离子体及其向轴线箍缩和后期向外膨胀的物理过程。     

Investigation of plasma opening switch conduction and openingmechanisms

Plasma opening switch techniques have been developed for pulsed power applications to exploit the advantages of electrical energy storage in a vacuum inductor compared to conventional, capacitive-based energy storage. Experiments are described that demonstrate the successful application of these techniques in conduction time ranges from 50 ns to over 1 μs. Physics understanding of the conduction and opening mechanisms is far from complete; however, many insights have been gained from experiments and theory. Measurements of current distribution, plasma density, and ion emission indicate that conduction and opening mechanisms differ for the 50 ns and 1 μs conduction times. For the 50 ns conduction time case, switching begins at a current level close to the bipolar emission limit, and opening could occur primarily by erosion. In the 1 μs conduction time case, limited hydrodynamic plasma displacement implies far higher plasma density than is required by the bipolar emission limit. Magnetic pressure is required to augment erosion to generate the switch gap inferred from experiments     

Study of the effects of the prefilled-plasma parameters on theoperation of a short-conduction plasma opening switch

Spectroscopic methods are used to determine the density, the temperature, the composition, the injection velocity, and the azimuthal uniformity of the flashboard-produced prefilled plasma in an 85-ns, 200-kA plasma opening switch (POS). The electron density is found to be an order of magnitude higher than that obtained by charge collectors, which are commonly used to determine the density in such POSs, suggesting that the density in short conduction POS's is significantly higher than is usually assumed. We also find that the plasma is mainly composed of protons. The spectroscopically measured plasma parameters are used here to calculate the conduction currents at the time of the opening predicted by various theoretical models for the POS operation. Comparison of these calculated currents to the measured currents indicates that the plasma behavior during conduction is governed either by plasma pushing or by magnetic-field penetration and less by sheath widening near the cathode, as described by existing models. Also, the conduction current mainly depends an the prefilled electron density and less on the plasma flux, which is inconsistent with the predictions of the erosion (four-phase) model for the switch operation. Another finding is that a better azimuthal uniformity of the prefilled plasma density shortens the load-current rise time     

高密度等离子体融断开关融蚀现象的粒子模拟研究

 利用自行研制的2.5维全电磁柱坐标粒子模拟程序对高密度等离子体融断开关融断区域中的融蚀现象进行了模拟研究,详细地介绍了计算模型的建立以及复杂边界的算法处理。模拟结果表明在融断开关导通电流的最后阶段,由于磁压力、磁场渗透作用和非中性静电融蚀作用,在融断区域的阴极附近会形成一定宽度的真空鞘层。由于等离子体密度的下降以及初始真空鞘层的存在,使得即使只有较小的离子电流,融蚀机制也完全可以导致PEOS最终断开。     

Energetic electron and ion beam generation in plasma openingswitches

In this paper, we present measurements of ion and electron flows in a nanosecond plasma opening switch (NPOS) and a microsecond plasma opening switch (MPOS), performed using charge collectors. In both experiments, an electron flow toward the anode, followed by an ion flow, were observed to propagate downstream toward the load side of the plasma during the plasma opening switch (POS) conduction. In the MPOS, ion acceleration was observed to propagate axially through the entire plasma. These results are in satisfactory agreement with the predictions of the electron magnetohydrodynamics (EHMD) theory and the results of fluid and particle-in-cell (PIC) code simulations. At the beginning of the POS opening, a high-current density (≈2 kA/cm²) short-duration (10-30 ns) axial ion flow downstream toward the load was observed in both experiments, with an electron beam in front of it. These ions are accelerated at the load side of the plasma and are accompanied by comoving electrons. In the NPOS, the ion energy reaches 1.35 MeV, whereas in the MPOS, the ion energy does not exceed 100 keV. We suggest that in the NPOS the dominant mechanism for the axial ion acceleration is collective acceleration by the space charge of the electron beam, while in the MPOS, axial ion acceleration is probably governed by the Hall field in the current carrying plasma     

High-Power Opening-Closing Switches Using Grid-Controlled Plasmas

Two switches are described with the capability of rapidly interrupting high-power circuits: a vacuum triode with a large-area plasma cathode, and a grid-controlled plasma conduction switch. Theoretical models for the vacuum triode imply that it could control voltages in the range ?100 kV at current density ?2 × 104 A/m2. The vacuum switch has the advantage of rapid switching at the expense of reduced efficiency because of its significant anode-cathode voltage drop. In contrast, the plasma switch has almost zero voltage in the conducting state. The theoretical models presented indicate that the plasma switch could conduct current densities in the range 10 × 104 A/m2 with open-circuit voltage ? 100 kV. Although the closing time is long (~1 ?s), the predicted opening time is short (~20 ns). Initial experiments demonstrating the principle of operation of the plasma switch are reported.     

Resonant laser diagnostics of a planar plasma opening switch

The plasma opening switch (POS) is an integral part of inductive store pulsed power systems. Using flashboards coated with BaO and a dye laser tuned to the 493.4 nm ground state transition of the singly-ionized barium ion, resonant laser diagnostics have been employed to image the switch plasma and provide a measurement of the plasma density during conduction and opening. Gaps open during the conduction phase with their position in the inter-electrode region depending upon the initial fill plasma. There is little axial motion of the plasma, contrary to the predictions of analytical hydro model calculations performed using the measured switch parameters. This discrepancy may be due to a finite lifetime for ions in the switch that is less than the conduction time resulting in a larger effective mass. From a functional point of view modified bipolar model calculations best fit the data     

强光一号POS等离子体源性能参数测量

以强光一号等离子体源（电缆枪）为研究对象,采用电荷收集器（法拉第杯）对强光一号等离子体源性能参数进行测量。实验结果表明:等离子体发射密度与电缆等离子体枪枪芯到枪口的距离正相关,而发射速度与电缆等离子体枪枪芯到枪口的距离负相关;增大电缆枪驱动电压时,等离子体发射密度增速远小于驱动电流增速。重复性研究表明,对由数十支电缆枪组成的等离子体源而言,单支电缆枪放电分散性对其输出等离子体整体分布均匀性影响不大。不确定度分析表明,通过多次重复实验求平均值,可以有效减小实验结果的不确定度,发射密度测量结果的合成标准不确定度在10%以内。     

低密度等离子体融断开关的粒子模拟研究

 采用2.5维柱坐标粒子模拟程序研究了低密度等离子体融断开关（PEOS）工作过程中的物理现象,介绍了计算模型的建立和复杂边界的算法处理。模拟结果表明,在PEOS导通电流的过程中,电流通道最初在等离子体的发生器端形成,并且随着导通时间的增大而向负载端漂移。离子的空间分布并没有明显的变化,当PEOS发生断路时,等离子体离子的密度会迅速降低,并最终导致PEOS阴极附近的等离子体的密度已接近为零,此时,阴极电子完全受磁场箍缩作用而不能到达阳极,PEOS完全断开。     

Experiments on the GIT-4 with the load connected upstream of the plasma opening switch

Experiments have been performed on the GIT-4 generator with a plasma opening switch to study the operation of a circuit connecting the load and the switch through an untriggered spark gap depending for its operation on a discharge over the surface of a dielectric in vacuum. The current switching into inductive loads of different inductance was investigated. The dependence of the time the switch is open on load inductance has been found. It has been demonstrated that the surface-discharge spark gap can be used at current rise rates of up to ∼2·10¹³ A/s. Institute of High Current Electronics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 12, pp. 31–35, December, 1999.     

An Innovative Simple Method for Study of the Characteristics of the Trigatron Plasma Switch

A simple Semi‐Analytical method used to fit the experimentally recorded current of the closed switch discharge circuit into the free running under damped LC oscillator model and the arc plasma conductivity, electron density of the plasma and efficiency of the spark gap switch energy transfer have been driven from the model by some simple calculations. The charging voltage, switch pressure and the spark gap has been changed between 6 to 15 kV, 1 to 1.5 bar and 1.4 or 2.8 mm, respectively. The obtained values for plasma conductivity and electron density of plasma are (5‐25)(Ω mm)^–1, (0.5–3.5)·10²⁴m^–3, respectively. The efficiency of the switch is plotted Vs. Pd and E/P which in both cases the peak value has been about 80 present.     

二极管爆炸发射阴极等离子体的膨胀扩展

分析了二极管中爆炸发射产生阴极等离子体的演化特征,在考虑了阴极等离子体朝阳极膨胀运动使二极管阴阳极间距缩短这一效应的同时,还计入了阴极等离子体沿发射表面径向扩展运动对二极管有效发射面积的影响。基于Child-Langmuir定律,利用在一个四脉冲强流电子束源装置上得到的电流、电压等实验数据,假定阴极等离子体轴向膨胀和径向扩展速度近似相等,研究了阴极等离子体的膨胀扩展动力学行为。计算结果表明,阴极等离子体朝阳极的膨胀和沿径向的扩展速度为0.9～2.8 cm/s。     

微秒级导通时间等离子体断路开关的二维雪耙模型

 给出了适合微秒级导通时间等离子体断路开关的二维雪耙模型的具体描述，建立了二维雪耙模型的基本方程及其差分格式，对方程进行了显式求解。通过对一个模型的计算，给出了雪耙阵面的传播图像，指出了断路开关的断开位置及附近点密度随时间的变化曲线，在该位置附近出现了等离子体薄化现象。