QUARTERLY STATUS REPORT OF THE LASL CONTROLLED THERMONUCLEAR RESEARCH PROGRAM FOR PERIOD ENDING FEBRUARY 20, 1961

Technical Report · Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1961

OSTI ID:4023189

The half-scale caulked pickat fence experiment is in operation. There did not appear to be any trapping of high- beta plasma in the magnetic mirror configuration, while in the picket fence geometry there was trapping and containment of low- beta plasma between the line and axial cusps. Timeresolved pressure distributlons were measured in the fast hydromagnetic gun. Preliminary data were also taken on Columbus S-5, a fast dynamic pinch experiment. Energy balance calculations were made for several applied voltage discharges in Perhapsatron S-5 Zeus which indicated a negligible energy loss for the flrst 20 mu see. The "tail" in the skew trapping experiment was fiound to be spurious. A new idea for injecting and trapping energetic charged particles in magnetic mirror geometries was proposed. Theoretical calculations were made of the resonance condition for a simplified model and an electron experiment was set up. In the experiment on the scattering of microwaves by ionized gases, the dynamics of the plasma medium were detected both by incoherent scatterirg out of the main beam and phzse modulation of the transmitted beam. A resonance in the intensity of the incoherent scattered beam was found which depends on gas pressure and electron density. Small azimuthal asymmeteris in the axie magnetic field were found to reduce the neutron yield in the Orthogonal Pinch Experiment by a factor of as much as 3. The effects of irradiation on the 4-electrode Marx gap were studied by applyirg a slowly rising trigger pulse to the probe of the center electrode. In connection with the Scylla experiment, the reflectivity of the beryl crystal of the sofi x-ray spectrometer was measured. Scylla III with the standard Scylla I coil produced 10/sup 8/ neutrons durirg a dischnrge. The new plasma gun produced what appeared to be a dense, highly energetic plasma atream. Construction of the E x B accelerator is almost compleie. A total of 16 of the 42 sheives of the Zeus capacitor bank was test fired at full voliage. Development work on the iaat, parallel-plate capacitor resulted in improved designs. (M.C.G.)

• Research Organization: Los Alamos Scientific Lab., N. Mex.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• NSA Number: NSA-15-016550
• OSTI ID: 4023189
• Report Number(s): LAMS-2529
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-61
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

PHYSICS
ACCELERATORS
ASYMMETRY
BEAMS
BERYLLIUM
CAPACITORS
CHARGED PARTICLES
COILS
CONFIGURATION
CONFINEMENT
CRYSTALS
CUSPED GEOMETRIES
DENSITY
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRODES
ELECTRONS
ENERGY
ENERGY RANGE
GASES
INJECTION
IONIZATION
IRRADIATION
LOSSES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC MIRRORS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MEASURED VALUES
MICROWAVES
MODULATION
NEUTRONS
OPERATION
PERHAPSATRON S-5 ZEUS
PERHAPSATRONS
PINCH
PLANNING
PLASMA
PRESSURE
PROBES
PRODUCTION
PULSES
REFLECTION
RESOLUTION
RESONANCE
SCATTERING
SCYLLA
SCYLLA 3
SPECTROMETERS
STABILITY
TESTING
THERMONUCLEAR D