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A contoured gap coaxial plasma gun with injected plasma armature

Journal Article · · Review of Scientific Instruments
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3202136· OSTI ID:22051020
A new coaxial plasma gun is described. The long term objective is to accelerate 100-200 {mu}g of plasma with density above 10{sup 17} cm{sup -3} to greater than 200 km/s with a Mach number above 10. Such high velocity dense plasma jets have a number of potential fusion applications, including plasma refueling, magnetized target fusion, injection of angular momentum into centrifugally confined mirrors, high energy density plasmas, and others. The approach uses symmetric injection of high density plasma into a coaxial electromagnetic accelerator having an annular gap geometry tailored to prevent formation of the blow-by instability. The injected plasma is generated by numerous (currently 32) radially oriented capillary discharges arranged uniformly around the circumference of the angled annular injection region of the accelerator. Magnetohydrodynamic modeling identified electrode profiles that can achieve the desired plasma jet parameters. The experimental hardware is described along with initial experimental results in which approximately 200 {mu}g has been accelerated to 100 km/s in a half-scale prototype gun. Initial observations of 64 merging injector jets in a planar cylindrical testing array are presented. Density and velocity are presently limited by available peak current and injection sources. Steps to increase both the drive current and the injected plasma mass are described for next generation experiments.
OSTI ID:
22051020
Journal Information:
Review of Scientific Instruments, Journal Name: Review of Scientific Instruments Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 80; ISSN 0034-6748; ISSN RSINAK
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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