Multiply charged ion transport in free boundary vacuum arc plasma jet
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, M/S-53, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
- Electrical Discharge and Plasma Laboratory, Tel Aviv University, P.O.B. 39040, Tel Aviv 69978 (Israel)
The free boundary plasma arc jet expansion was analyzed based on a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The plasma jet expansion was modeled using the sourceless steady-state hydrodynamic equations, where the plasma free boundary was determined self-consistently. Due to the existence of an electric field in the quasineutral plasma the different charged ion species can be spatially separated. It was found that the mean charge state distribution is strongly nonuniform with a tendency for the highly charged species to appear near the plasma jet boundary region. Along the center line the density of singly charged ions falls off by about four times while the density of fourfold charged ions drops by more than 100 times. The radial charge state distribution becomes more nonuniform with increasing magnetic field. Good qualitative agreement between calculated and experimental radial distributions of different charged species was obtained. {copyright} {ital 1998 American Institute of Physics.}
- OSTI ID:
- 664662
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 84; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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