학술논문

Initial conditions in the hawk dense plasma focus
Document Type
Conference
Source
2019 IEEE Pulsed Power & Plasma Science (PPPS) Pulsed Power & Plasma Science (PPPS), 2019 IEEE. :1-5 Jun, 2019
Subject
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Fields, Waves and Electromagnetics
Nuclear Engineering
Power, Energy and Industry Applications
Plasmas
Measurement by laser beam
Density measurement
Plasma measurements
Transmission line measurements
Laser beams
Neutrons
Language
ISSN
2158-4923
Abstract
The 670 kA Hawk pulsed power generator at NRL has been configured as a fast (1.2 µs rise time), high inductance (607 nH) driver for a dynamic dense plasma focus (DPF) load in order to create a testbed for the study of charged particle acceleration mechanisms in imploding plasmas. The current pulse is initiated in a deuterium plasma injected radially by three Marshall guns. This plasma is accelerated through a coaxial region, and pinches onto neutral deuterium injected axially by a gas-puff valve. Promising experimental results along with recent improvements to the Marshall gun design have prompted efforts to better characterize the density profiles produced by the guns. A multichannel heterodyne interferometer focused into a ribbon beam is used to provide time-resolved measurements of the Marshall gun plasma density, allowing parameters to be tuned and mass distributions to be established for a wide range of initial conditions. These interferometric measurements are used in establishing a standard operating condition for the experiment in a high neutron yield regime.