Measurement of dust grain charging in a laboratory plasma

The authors present an experimental system capable of causing dust grains to interact with a plasma in a well-controlled manner and measuring the accumulated charge. Results indicate that the measured charge accumulated on 0.1 μm diameter bismuth particles agrees to the first order with simple charging models. With further refinement of the diagnostic system, it is expected that detailed comparisons can be made with existing models     

Spectroscopic diagnosis of the temperature profile of an Al:MgZ-pinch

We consider the question of how the temperature profile of a Z-pinch plasma can be determined and/or constrained by the requirement that its observed K-shell spectrum be replicated. As a case study we employ spatially integrated, time-resolved K-shell data obtained from the implosion of 30-wire Al:Mg alloy arrays on the Saturn driver at Sandia National Laboratories. Given the measured pinch size, its K-shell power and line intensities are compared with the predictions of a collisional-radiative-equilibrium plasma model whose temperature profile is varied in seeking agreement with the data. The Al data rules out a large range of possible temperature profiles, but two quite different temperature distributions can both match the measurements. These are: a uniform temperature, or, one with a sharply dropping temperature near the pinch outer edge. However, the measured ratio of the Mg α resonance lines to those of Al, even though time-integrated, excludes the possibility of a uniform temperature distribution     

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     

Laser-induced fluorescent measurements of magnetic field contoursin a low-pressure discharge

Faraday rotation of a laser beam and emission spectroscopy to resolve Zeeman splitting provide information about the plasma magnetic field, integrated along the line of sight. Information about the local magnetic field strength can be obtained using a dye laser tuned off the center of an atomic or ionic transition by an amount δλ_z. If the absorption linewidth of the transition probed is less than the Zeeman splitting, only those atoms/ions residing in a magnetic field where the Zeeman splitting is δλ_z will resonantly absorb energy from the laser and fluoresce. The feasibility of this magnetic field contour technique was studied in a low-pressure neon discharge. A conductor insulated from the discharge generated a large magnetic field in the discharge free of the Stark broadening effects associated with large plasma currents. The laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) intensity profile measured along the laser beams had peaks at those spatial locations where local magnetic fields, inferred from the conductor current, agreed with the Zeeman shifted wavelength of the laser