Plasma jet emission in fast-pulsed capillary discharges

Journal Article · Fri Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1984077· OSTI ID:20713980

Caballero, L S; Chuaqui, H; Favre, M; Mitchell, I; Wyndham, E ^[1]

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1. Departamento de Fisica, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago 22 (Chile)

The properties of a plasma jet generated in low-pressure pulsed capillary discharge have been measured. The discharge operates in a 5 cm long and 1.6-mm-inner diameter alumina capillary, with argon in a pressure range between 20 and 100 Torr, at 11-kV applied voltage. The temporal and spatial evolutions of the plasma density in the plasma jets are measured close to the capillary end with a Michelson interferometry based on a 10-ns-pulse Nd:yttrium aluminum garnet laser. The maximum on-axis plasma density is of the order of 10{sup 17} cm{sup -3} at the capillary output, with an {approx}6-ns rise time to reach a significative electron density. At lower pressure the plasma density is seen to decay in a time scale of 50 ns and over an axial distance of the order of 0.5 mm, whereas at the higher pressure, 100 Torr, it remains more or less stationary for up to {approx}300 ns. The discharge is characterized by a high efficiency in energy coupling, as the local-stored energy is much less than 1 J per pulse.

• OSTI ID: 20713980
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 98; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
ARGON
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRON DENSITY
GLOW DISCHARGES
INTERFEROMETRY
NEODYMIUM LASERS
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA JETS
PRESSURE RANGE KILO PA
PULSE RISE TIME
PULSES
STORED ENERGY