Laser-particulate interactions in a dusty RF plasma

The interaction of particulates formed in an argon RF discharge containing 1-5% CCl₂F₂ admixture with a pulsed infrared laser (Nd:YAG, intensity ~10⁹ W m^-2, pulse duration ~10^-4 s) has been studied in situ. The white light emitted during this process has been monitored as a function of time and wavelength using a fast photo diode and an optical multichannel analyser. The spectra have been fitted with blackbody curves with a standard deviation of 5%. A spectral temperature of about 3500 K has been obtained for various plasma conditions and attributed to the decomposition temperature of the particulate material. A model based on laser heating, internal heat conduction and chemical decomposition is compared with the experimental results. This model predicts the time constants for heating and decomposition of the particulates and explains the dependence of the measured emission intensity on the laser intensity     

高能电子辐射下聚四氟乙烯深层充电特性

介质深层充放电现象是诱发航天器异常故障的重要因素之一.分析了高能电子辐射下介质内部电荷沉积、能量沉积特性和电导特性,考虑了真空与介质界面电荷对电场分布的影响,建立了介质二维深层充电的物理模型,并基于有限元方法实现了数值计算.计算了高能电子辐射下聚四氟乙烯的深层充电特性.结果表明:真空环境下,介质的表面存在较弱的反向电场,随着介质深度增大,电场减小至零,随后逐渐增大,最大值出现在靠近接地附近,但在接地点,电场存在小幅降低.分析了不同辐射时间下(1 h,1 d,10 d和30 d),介质内部最大电位和最大电场的时空演变特性.随着辐射时间的增加,最大电位由-128V增加至-7.9×104V,最大电场由2.83×105V·m-1增加至1.76×108V·m-1.讨论了入射电子束流密度对最大电场的影响,典型空间电子环境(1×10-10A·m-2)下,电子辐照10 d时,介质内部最大电场为2.95×106V·m-1.而恶劣空间电子环境(2×10-8A·m-2)下,电子辐射42 h,介质内部最大电场即达到108V·m-1,超过材料击穿阈值(约为108V·m-1),极易发生放电现象.该物理模型和数值方法可以作为航天器复杂部件多维电场仿真的研究基础.     

Experimental study of CF4 conical theta pinch plasmaexpanding into vacuum

Langmuir probe, photodiode, and optical multichannel analyzer (OMA) measurements have been made on a pulsed CF₄ conical theta-pinch plasma. A cloud of CF₄ was puffed into a conical theta-pinch coil, converted to plasma, and propelled into the vacuum region ahead of the expanding gas cloud. At a position 67 cm away from the conical theta-pinch coil, the plasma arrived in separate packets that were about 20 μs in duration. The average drift velocity of these packets corresponded to an energy of about 3 eV. The OMA measurements showed that the second packet contained neutral atomic fluorine as well as charged particles. The electron temperature and ion density in the second packet were 2.0 eV and 1.5×10¹³ cm^-3, respectively. The electron temperature and ion density in the wake plasma were 8.3 eV and 4×10¹¹ cm^-3 , respectively. This device can be used for plasma processing or as a laboratory test of numerical and analytical models of the expansion of plasma into vacuum     

高功率微波窗内外表面闪络击穿流体模拟研究

建立理论模型,将电磁场时域有限差分方法与等离子体流体模型结合,编制一维电磁场与等离子流体耦合程序,数值研究了3 GHz高功率微波窗内外表面闪络击穿的不同物理过程.研究结果表明:外表面闪络击穿中,输出微波脉宽缩短(未完全截止),窗体前均方根场强呈驻波分布,波节与波腹位置不变,窗体外表面形成有一层高密(约10~(21)·m~(-3)量级)极薄(约mm量级)等离子体(扩散缓慢),入射波可部分透过该薄层等离子体,脉宽缩短主要源于等离子体吸收效应;降低初始等离子体密度、厚度、入射波场强及缩短入射波脉宽等方式,可不同程度地改善输出脉宽缩短效应.内表面闪络击穿中,窗体前均方根场强亦出现驻波分布f但波节与波腹位置随时间变化),等离子体向波源方向运动;强释气下,输出脉宽缩短(未完全截止),形成多丝状高密(约10~(21)·m~(-3)量级)极薄(约mm量级)等离子体区域(扩散缓慢),间距1/4微波波长,脉宽缩短主要源于等离子体吸收效应;弱释气、低场强下,脉宽缩短有所改善(但最终截止),形成多带状致密(约10~(18)·m~(-3)量级)略厚(mm-cm量级)等离子体区域(扩散较快),间距1/4波长,脉宽缩短主要源于等离子体吸收效应;弱释气、高场强下,脉宽缩短严重(很快截止),形成块状高密(约10~(21)·m~(-3)量级)较厚(约cm量级)等离子体区域(扩散迅速),脉宽缩短主要源于等离子体反射效应.     

Shadow photography of laser-driven shock waves in air

The interaction of a pulsed TE-CO₂-laser (10.6 μm wavelength, 7 μs pulse length, 0.7 J pulse energy, 10⁷ W/cm² power density, 100 kW mean power) with metals in air was investigated. Laser-supported absorption phenomena and material ablation processes are compared to those of conventional pulsed TEA-CO ₂-lasers. Of interest were the time-dependent plasma formation and the evolution of the shock waves. To achieve a time resolution better than 10 ns, a pulsed dye laser was used as a light source for the shadow photography     

Effects of pulse energy ratios on plasma characteristics of dual-pulse fiber-optic laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Laser-induced plasmas of dual-pulse fiber-optic laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy with different pulse energy ratios are studied by using the optical emission spectroscopy(OES)and fast imaging.The energy of the two laser pulses is independently adjusted within 0–30 m J with the total energy fixed at 30 m J.The inter-pulse delay remains 450 ns constantly.As the energy share of the first pulse increases,a similar bimodal variation trend of line intensities is observed.The two peaks are obtained at the point where the first pulse is half or twice of the second one,and the maximum spectral enhancement is at the first peak.The bimodal variation trend is induced by the change in the dominated mechanism of dual-pulse excitation with the trough between the two peaks caused by the weak coupling between the two mechanisms.By increasing the first pulse energy,there is a transition from the ablation enhancement dominance near the first peak to the plasma reheating dominance near the second peak.The calculations of plasma temperature and electron number density are consistent with the bimodal trend,which have the values of 17024.47 K,2.75×10¹⁷cm;and 12215.93 K,1.17×10¹⁷cm;at a time delay of 550 ns.In addition,the difference between the two peaks decreases with time delay.With the increase in the first pulse energy share,the plasma morphology undergoes a transformation from hemispherical to shiny-dot and to oblate-cylinder structure during the second laser irradiation from the recorded images by using an intensified charge-coupled device(ICCD)camera.Correspondingly,the peak expansion distance of the plasma front first decreases significantly from 1.99 mm in the single-pulse case to 1.34 mm at 12/18(dominated by ablation enhancement)and then increases slightly with increasing the plasma reheating effect.The variations in plasma dynamics verify that the change of pulse energy ratios leads to a transformation in the dual-pulse excitation mechanism.     

Validity conditions for complete and partial local thermodynamicequilibrium of nonhydrogenic level systems and their application tocopper vapor arcs in vacuum

Validity conditions for complete and partial local thermodynamic equilibrium (CLTE and PLTE) of homogeneous, time-dependent, and optically thin plasmas are derived. For Cu I, electron densities of n_e⩾(5×10²²-5×10²³ ) m^-3 are required for the establishment of CLTE. For Cu I and Cu II, n_e⩾(5×10²¹-5×10²¹ -5×10²²) m^-3 is necessary for PLTE (for electron temperatures of 1-2 eV). Application to low-current copper vapor arcs in vacuum shows that CLTE can be expected for r<200-600 μm (r=distance from the cathode spot). A further limitation follows for temperatures of 2 eV or higher if diffusion effects are taken into consideration. Consequently, the use of the LTE formulas in plasma spectroscopy of low-current vacuum arcs is very limited     

Importance of high local cathode spot pressure on the attachment ofthermal arcs on cold cathodes

The importance of having high local cathode spot pressures for the self-sustaining operation of a thermal arc plasma on a cold cathode is theoretically investigated. Applying a cathode sheath model to a Cu cathode, it is shown that cathode spot plasma pressures ranging 7.4-9.2 atm and 34.2-50 atm for electron temperatures of ~1 eV are needed to account for current densities of 10⁹ and 10¹⁰ A·m^-2, respectively. The study of the different contributions from the ions, the emission electrons, and the back-diffusing plasma electrons to the total current and heat transfer to the cathode spot has allowed us to show the following. 1) Due to the high metallic plasma densities, a strong heating of the cathode occurs and an important surface electric field is established at the cathode surface causing strong thermo-field emission of electrons. 2) Due to the presence of a high density of ions in the cathode vicinity, an important fraction of the total current is carried by the ions and the electron emission is enhanced. 3) The total current is only slightly reduced by the presence of back-diffusing plasma electrons in the cathode sheath. For a current density j_tot=10⁹ A·m^-2 , the current to the cathode surface is mainly transported by the ions (76-91% of j_tot while for a current density j_tot = 10¹⁰ A·m^-2, the thermo-field electrons become the main current carriers (61-72% of j_tot). It is shown that the cathode spot plasma parameters are those of a high pressure metallic gas where deviations from the ideal gas law and important lowering of the ionization potentials are observed     

Measurements of the behaviour of neutral atom density in a diffusevacuum arc by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF)

The method of laser-induced fluorescence was used to study the behavior of the absolute neutral vapor density of a diffuse vacuum arc on FeCu contacts. The local and temporal resolutions were 1 mm³ and 10 μs, respectively. The arc current had a sinusoidal shape of 5.8-ms duration with peak values of 90 and 510 A. It was found that the maximum densities of the iron and copper atoms are 1.2×10 ¹⁷ m^-3 and 7.5×10¹⁷ m^-3, respectively. During the arc the density was correlated with the current. At current zero the measured densities decreased to 10 ¹⁶ m^-3. After current zero, an exponential density decay with a time constant of about 100 μs was observed, indicating the recovery of dielectric strength after current zero. Measurements of the neutron iron vapor density at different spatial positions in the electrode gap reveal a nonisotropic distribution. From the measurements of the population distribution of the iron ground-state multiplet a ⁵D, the excitation temperature was derived. This temperature was low compared with the cathode spot temperature 2500-4000 K and decreased from 1600 K at the current maximum to 1000 K at current zero. The results indicate that the generation of neutrals is caused by flying evaporating metal droplets rather than by molten surface areas     

温稠密钛电导率计算

温稠密物质是惯性约束核聚变、重离子聚变、Z箍缩动作过程中物质发展和存在的重要阶段. 其热力学性质和辐射输运参数在聚变实验和内爆驱动力学模拟过程中有至关重要的作用. 本文通过建立非理想Saha方程, 结合线性混合规则的理论方法模拟了温稠密钛从10^-5-10 g·cm^-3, 10⁴ K到3×10⁴ K区间的粒子组分分布和电导率随温度密度的变化, 其中粒子组分分布由非理想Saha方程求解得到. 线性混合规则模型计算温稠密钛的电导率时考虑了包括电子、原子和离子之间的多种相互作用. 钛的电导率的计算结果与已有的爆炸丝实验数据相符. 通过电导率随温度密度变化趋势判断, 钛在整个温度区间, 密度0.56 g·cm^-3时发生非金属相到金属相相变. 对于简并系数和耦合系数的计算分析, 钛等离子体在整个温度和密度区间逐渐从弱耦合、非简并状态过渡到强耦合部分简并态.     

Comparison of nanosecond laser ablation at 1064 and 308 nm wavelength

To study the solid Cu ablation in vacuum, two different laser sources operating at 1064 and 308 nm wavelength are employed at similar values of laser fluences. The infrared laser is a Q-switched Nd:Yag having 9 ns pulse width (INFN-LNS, Catania), while the ultraviolet one is a XeCl excimer having 20 ns pulse width (INFN-LEA, Lecce). Both experiments produced a narrow angular distribution of the ejected material along the normal to the target surface. The ablation showed a threshold laser power density, of about 7 and 3 J/cm² at 1064 and 308 nm, respectively, below which the ablation effect was negligible. The laser interaction produces a plasma at the target surface, which expands very fast in the vacuum chamber. Time-of-flight (TOF) measurements of the ion emission indicated an average ion velocity of the order of 4.7×10⁴ and 2.3×10⁴ m/s for the infrared and ultraviolet radiation, respectively. We also estimated approximately the corresponding temperature of the plasma from which ions originated, i.e. about 10⁶ and 10⁵ K for IR and UV wavelength, respectively. A discussion of the analysis of the ablation mechanism is presented. At the used laser power densities the produced Cu ions showed ionisation states between 1+ and 5+ in both cases.     

脉冲激光烧蚀材料等离子体反冲压力物理模型研究与应用

分析了脉冲激光烧蚀材料等离子体等温膨胀阶段的物理特性,建立了脉冲激光烧蚀材料等离子体压力三维方程与动力学模型.应用所建模型,数值分析了单脉冲激光烧蚀青铜金刚石砂轮等离子体相关特性,得到等离子体的反冲压力最大值870 Pa出现在约25 ns后,距离砂轮表面距离约0.05 mm处.相关条件下开展脉冲激光烧蚀青铜金刚石砂轮试验,采用高速相机观测烧蚀砂轮过程中的飞溅现象;采用光栅光谱仪测量等离子体空间发射光谱,计算了等离子体电子温度、电子密度以及反冲压力.实验表明脉冲激光烧蚀青铜金刚石砂轮等离子体反冲压力可以不计,同时也验证了气体方程与动力学模型的正确性和可行性,对脉冲光纤激光烧蚀工艺优化具有启示意义.     

Spatial characteristics of nanosecond pulsed micro-discharges in atmospheric pressure He/H2O mixture by optical emission spectroscopy

Atmospheric pressure micro-discharges in helium gas with a mixture of 0.5%water vapor between two pin electrodes are generated with nanosecond overvoltage pulses.The temporal and spatial characteristics of the discharges are investigated by means of time-resolved imaging and optical emission spectroscopy with respect to the discharge morphology,gas temperature,electron density,and excited species.The evolution of micro-discharges is captured by intensified CCD camera and electrical properties.The gas temperature is diagnosed by a two-temperature fit to the ro-vibrational OH(A²Σ⁺–X^П(2),0–0)emission band and is found to remain low at 425 K during the discharge pulses.The profile of electron density performed by the Stark broadening of Ha 656.1-nm and He I 667.8-nm lines is uniform across the discharge gap at the initial of discharge and reaches as high as 10²³m^-3.The excited species of He,OH,and H show different spatio-temporal behaviors from each other by the measurement of their emission intensities,which are discussed qualitatively in regard of their plasma kinetics.     

Electric and plasma characteristics of RF discharge plasma actuation under varying pressures

The electric and plasma characteristics of RF discharge plasma actuation under varying pressure have been investigated experimentally. As the pressure increases, the shapes of charge–voltage Lissajous curves vary, and the discharge energy increases. The emission spectra show significant difference as the pressure varies. When the pressure is 1000 Pa,the electron temperature is estimated to be 4.139 e V, the electron density and the vibrational temperature of plasma are peak4.71×10~(11)cm~(-3) and 1.27 e V, respectively. The ratio of spectral lines I391.4/peak I380.5which describes the electron temperature hardly changes when the pressure varies between 5000–30000 Pa, while it increases remarkably with the pressure below 5000 Pa, indicating a transition from filamentary discharge to glow discharge. The characteristics of emission spectrum are obviously influenced by the loading power. With more loading power, both of the illumination and emission spectrum intensity increase at 10000 Pa. The pin–pin electrode RF discharge is arc-like at power higher than 33 W, which results in a macroscopic air temperature increase.     

Lithium-argon discharges in a multicusp-ECR microwave resonantcavity

Argon and lithium-argon discharges have been created in a multicusp-ECR microwave resonant cavity. A double Langmuir probe has been used to determine discharge characteristics, indicating ion densities of 10¹⁰-10¹¹ cm^-3 and electron temperatures of about 3 eV with operating pressures of 4-20 mtorr and input powers of 100-250 W. Lithium is introduced to the system in the form of lithium chloride or lithium carbonate which is then heated by a background argon discharge allowing dissociation of lithium. The dissociation is evidenced by the observation of strong Li-I lines in the discharge using optical emission spectroscopy. LiCl was found to give a strong Li-I optical signal for about 15 min run time whereas Li ₂CO₃ gave lower intensity lines, but for about 60 min run time     

Metal vapor densities and excitation temperatures in a pseudosparkswitch

The densities of iron, tungsten, copper, and nickel vapors produced by pseudosparks in a switch-like configuration are measured by laser-induced fluorescence. The cathode is made of a composite material essentially consisting of tungsten, but also containing the other metals mentioned. Total vapor densities are calculated from ground state densities using the excitation temperature of iron, which decays from 1900 K at 9 μs after initiation of the discharge to 600 K about 150 μs later. With maximum copper and tungsten vapor densities of 1.5×10¹⁸ m^-3 and 2×10¹⁷ m ^-3, respectively, the composition of metal vapor differs considerably from that of the cathode material. Iron and nickel vapors are present with densities in the range of 10¹⁶ m^-3. By comparison of vapor density ratios with vapor pressure ratios it is found that regions with temperatures in excess of 5000 K exist on the cathode. These are attributable to emission sites providing the electrons for current conduction. The vapor densities are roughly proportional to the current amplitude, while the gas pressure has practically no influence between 15 and 30 Pa     

Plasma parameters within the cathode spot of laser-induced vacuumarcs: experimental and theoretical investigations

Cathode spot formation in laser-induced breakdown in vacuum was investigated by laser absorption photography with high spatial (0.5 μm) and temporal (100 ps) resolution. The discharge was initiated between Cu electrodes with a cathode-anode distance of 15-250 μm. The duration of pulsed discharges was 750 ns and dc discharges some milliseconds; the current was below 10 A. Picosecond momentary absorption photography yielded spatial-temporal density distributions in the ignition phase of the cathode spot. An absolute electron density >5×10²⁶ m^-3 in narrow plasma fragments with a diameter smaller than 5 μm was estimated. Mathematical modeling has satisfactorily explained the formation of the narrow plasma channel due to the bulk current self-focusing, as well as due to the generation of nonstationary emissive centers at the moving boundary of the expanding cathode spot plasma     

利用离子声波朗道阻尼测量氧化物阴极放电中的离子温度

作为等离子体重要参数之一, 特别是在低温等离子体中离子温度的测量一直较为困难. 在磁化线性等离子体装置氧化物阴极脉冲放电条件下, 利用栅网激发离子声波, 通过测量波幅在朗道阻尼作用下随空间的演化, 利用阻尼长度是离子温度和电子温度的函数, 计算得到离子温度为0.3 eV. 测量值与国外类似装置利用光谱诊断所得结果基本相同.     

Spectroscopic investigation of a low current arc in pure fluorine

A pure fluorine 10-A DC arc has been operated in an Al₂O₃ tube of 18 mm diameter at atmospheric pressure. This arc was used to perform radially resolved spectroscopic end-on measurements in the visible and UV-spectral regions. An excitation temperature of 7800 K on the arc axis was determined from the intensity of atomic fluorine lines, and an ion density of 1.7×10 ²¹ m^-3 was determined from the half-width of the contamination line H_β. A Boltzmann plot of the affinity continuum in the UV-spectral region yields two groups of electrons. A group of hot electrons is characterized by a temperature that agrees with the excitation temperature, and a group of cold electrons has a temperature in accordance to the gas temperature of 4000 K. The absolute intensity of the affinity continuum gives and electron density of 1.3×10²⁰ m^-3 on the arc axis, which is lower than the density of both positive and negative ions in the discharge. From the difference between the electron and gas temperature, an elastic collision cross section between the electrons and F-atoms of 2×10^-20 m² is determined     

Simulations of the effects of density and temperature profile on SMBI penetration depth based on the HL-2A tokamak configuration

Using the trans-neut module of the BOUT++ code, we study how the fueling penetration depth of supersonic molecular beam injection(SMBI) is affected by plasma density and temperature profiles. The plasma densities and temperatures in L-mode are initialized to be a set of linear profiles with different core plasma densities and temperatures. The plasma profiles are relaxed to a set of steady states with different core plasma densities or temperatures. For a fixed gradient, the steady profiles are characterized by the core plasma density and temperature. The SMBI is investigated based on the final steady profiles with different core plasma densities or temperatures. The simulated results suggest that the SMB injection will be blocked by dense core plasma and high-temperature plasma. Once the core plasma density is set to be N_(i0)= 1.4N_0(N_0= 1 × 10~(19)m~(-3)) it produces a deeper penetration depth. When N_(i0) is increased from 1.4N_0 to 3.9N_0 at intervals of 0.8N_0, keeping a constant core temperature of T_(e0)= 725 eV at the radial position of ψ = 0.65, the penetration depth gradually decreases. Meanwhile, when the density is fixed at N_(i0)= 1.4N_0 and the core plasma temperature T_(e0) is set to 365 eV,the penetration depth increases. The penetration depth decreases as T_(e0) is increased from 365 eV to 2759 eV. Sufficiently large N_(i0) or T_(e0) causes most of the injected molecules to stay in the scrape-off-layer(SOL) region, lowering the fueling efficiency.