Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities of a magnetically accelerated plasma

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1960 · Nuclear Fusion

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/1/1/003· OSTI ID:4073233

Green, T. S.; Niblett, G. B. F.

High-speed photography was used to study the compression of a deuterium plasma by an axial magnetic field generated by a wide single-turn coil. The inductance of the coil was small compared with that of the external condenser bank so that the plasma imploded at a constant acceleration of 5 x 1O¹² cm/ sec². Flutes which developed on the outer surface of the plasma was interpreted as magnetohydrodynamic Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities produced by the inward acceleration of the interface separating magnetic field and plasma. The observed growth rates were in agreement with simple theory. It is shown that the ratio of the diffusivities of magnetic field and momentum determines whether the plasma resistivity or its viscosity is the dominant mechanism for damping the short wavelength instabilities. At the temperature and densities of this experiment the resistivity was primarily responsible for the damping, and the wavelength of "maximum instability" calculated on this basis agreed with the observed value. (auth)

• Research Organization: Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Aldermaston, Berks., Eng.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• NSA Number: NSA-15-012350
• OSTI ID: 4073233
• Journal Information: Nuclear Fusion, Journal Name: Nuclear Fusion Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 1; ISSN 0029-5515
• Publisher: IOP Science
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ACCELERATION
CAPACITORS
COILS
CONFINEMENT
DAMPING
DENSITY
DEUTERIUM
DIFFUSION
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
EXPLOSIONS
FLUID FLOW
FLUTE INSTABILITY
INDUCTION
MAGNETIC COMPRESSION
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MEASURED VALUES
MOMENTUM
PHOTOGRAPHY
PHYSICS
PLASMA
PRESSURE
RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY
STABILITY
SURFACES
TEMPERATURE
VELOCITY
VISCOSITY