Results of fiber optic interferometer measurements on a magnetically confined plasma opening switch

Author

McFarland, M. ; Gensler, S. ; Krishnan, M. ; Savage, M. ; Goyer, J. ; Huet, D.

Author_Institution

Almeda Applied Sci. Corp., San Leandro, CA, USA

fYear

2000

fDate

4-7 June 2000

Firstpage

130

Abstract

Summary form only given. Fiber optic interferometer (FOI) plasma density measurements were performed on a magnetically confined plasma opening switch (MCPOS) at the Centre d´Etudes de Gramat, France. This is the first time that direct density measurements have been carried out on the MCPOS. The MCPOS uses a quasi-static magnetic field (slow-coil field) to guide the flashboard plasma into the anode-cathode (AK) gap and a separately generated fast field to open the switch. Measurements were performed on both the flashboard fill-plasma and plasma with the Marx bank fired. It was found that the flashboards generate a plasma with a density of about /spl sim/10/sup 14/ cm/sup -3/ which travels with a maximum velocity, v/spl sim/15 cm//spl mu/s.

Keywords

fibre optic sensors; light interferometers; plasma density; plasma diagnostics; plasma switches; Marx bank; anode-cathode gap; direct density measurements; fiber optic interferometer measurements; flashboard fill-plasma; flashboard plasma; flashboards; magnetically confined plasma opening switch; plasma density; plasma density measurements; plasma generation; plasma maximum velocity; quasi-static magnetic field; separately generated fast field; slow-coil field; Density measurement; Magnetic confinement; Magnetic field measurement; Optical fibers; Optical interferometry; Performance evaluation; Plasma confinement; Plasma density; Plasma measurements; Switches;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Plasma Science, 2000. ICOPS 2000. IEEE Conference Record - Abstracts. The 27th IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

New Orleans, LA, USA

ISSN

0730-9244

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5982-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PLASMA.2000.854768

Filename

854768