Double and multi-pulsed operations of inductive plasma sources

This paper describes the study of double and multi-pulsed operations of two inductive plasma sources (IPS) for the generation of intense ion/plasma flows. Due to its simplicity and high efficiency, as compared to conventional coaxial J×B plasma sources, the IPS looks promising for a variety of applications that require a multi-pulse mode of operation, such as: intense plasma and ion beams [15th International Conference on High-Power Particle Beams, St. Petersburg, Russia, July 2004]; high current pulsed Hall accelerators [Plasma Phys. Rep. 29 (2003) 261]; spacecraft propulsion [AIP Conf. Proc. 608 (2002) 627] and the formation of field-reversed configurations by colliding current carrying plasma tori in magnetic fusion devices [Nucl. Fusion 39 (1999) 2001]. Design, projected parameters and initial test results for several modifications of the IPS, including characteristics of the generated plasma flows, are given. The density and temperature ranged between 1012 and 1015 cm−3 and 2 and 10 eV, respectively. Plasma transport velocities were measured between (1–5)×106 cm/s. The multi-pulse mode produced a train of pulses with frequencies up to 10 kHz for several milliseconds at power levels of (1–2)×107 W and several joules of deposited energy per pulse. The potential and limitations of double and multi-pulse modes of the IPS are also discussed.