skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Spectroscopic measurements of the electron and ion temperatures and effective ion charge in current sheets formed in two- and three-dimensional magnetic configurations

Journal Article · · Plasma Physics Reports
; ;  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Russian Academy of Sciences, Prokhorov Institute of General Physics (Russian Federation)
  2. Russian Academy of Sciences, Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute (Russian Federation)

The spatial distributions of the electron temperature and density, the effective and average ion charges, and the thermal and directed ion velocities in current sheets formed in two-dimensional magnetic fields and three-dimensional magnetic configurations with an X line were studied using spectroscopic and interference holographic methods. The main attention was paid to studying the time evolution of the intensities of spectral lines of the working-gas (argon) and impurity ions under different conditions. Using these data, the electron temperature was calculated with the help of an original mathematical code based on a collisional-radiative plasma model incorporating the processes of ionization and excitation, as well as MHD plasma flows generated in the stage of the current-sheet formation. It is shown that the electron temperature depends on the longitudinal magnetic field, whereas the ion temperature is independent of it. The effective ion charge of the current-sheet plasma was determined for the first time.

OSTI ID:
21399937
Journal Information:
Plasma Physics Reports, Vol. 34, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1134/S1063780X08120039; Copyright (c) 2008 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.; ISSN 1063-780X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English