학술논문

Optimizing an in-situ plasma discharge process for improving multi-MA accelerator performance
Document Type
Conference
Source
2023 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS) Plasma Science (ICOPS), 2023 IEEE International Conference on. :1-1 May, 2023
Subject
Nuclear Engineering
Heating systems
Surface impedance
Power transmission lines
Surface discharges
Plasma accelerators
Surface contamination
Laboratories
Language
ISSN
2576-7208
Abstract
Sandia National laboratories is using a glow discharge to remove contaminants from Magnetically Insulated Transmission Line (MITL) surfaces in low impedance, multi-megaampere accelerators. Sandia's Z Machine (Z) deliver over 20 MA in 100 ns to targets via MITLs operating at lineal current densities between 0.1 and 5 MA/cm and with anode-cathode (AK) gap spacings varying from 3 to over 10 mm. Ohmic heating contributes to rapid surface heating and subsequent desorption of lightly bound, low-mass contaminants. Surfaces also melt and release bulk hydrogen into the growing electrode plasma. Though not fully understood, it is likely that these ionized species contribute to charge transport across the AK gap, shunting current and reducing HED target performance.