FIELD CONFIGURATIONS AND STABILITY STUDIES OF A LINEAR DISCHARGE
A detailed study of the distribution of magnetic fields in a stabilized linear pinched discharge (Columbus S-4) has demonnstrated a tendency of the discharge to lock its magnetic energy inside the tube through ionization of gases remaining external to the pinch. This affect is seen as a circulation of currents in the tube, in some cases reaching half the peak value of the discharge current even through the current from the external capacitor back has returned to zero. It is shown through elementary arguments that this effect should be most anonounced for discharge tubes of large bore, coupled to short-period capacitor banks. Analysis of the discharge spectrum shows a remarkable absence of electrode materials in the discharge, even though wall elements are abundant. Measurement of plasma pressure distribution indicates much less cooling near the electrodes than simple theory would suggest. Instability studies indicate that small-area surface instabilities persist after sufficient B/sub z/ has been applied to remove the gross pinch instabilities. The conditions present in the tube will be compared with the stability criteria of B. R. Suydam. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos Scientific Lab., N. Mex.
- NSA Number:
- NSA-12-014893
- OSTI ID:
- 4306153
- Report Number(s):
- A/CONF.15/P/2395
- Country of Publication:
- Country unknown/Code not available
- Language:
- English
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