PLASMA DYNAMICS AND INTERACTION WITH HIGH FREQUENCY FIELDS.
Abstract
Under a previous grant the plasmas were produced primarily by feeding high frequency energy from an oscillator to electrodes in a magnetic field. Toward the end of the grant period, this effort was de-emphasized in favor of a method for generating the plasma by photoionization. These photons have very high frequencies and energies. The photoionized plasmas have been so fruitful that this phase of the research was expanded considerably under the present grant. Three independent photoionization facilities are now in operation. The largest was used to confirm a quasi-linear theoretical prediction by Field and Fried of this department, in which a suddenly applied electric field causes a plasma current to increase and then sharply decrease due to the growth of ion acoustic waves. The agreement between theory and experiment turned out to be extremely good. The second piece of apparatus was used to measure the expansion and diffusion of a plasma column with and without the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field. The third piece of apparatus was designed to examine the behavior of large plasma density pertubations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 12, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0677296
Entities
People
- K. R. Mackenzie
Organizations
- University of California, Los Angeles