Fast Plasma Heating.

Abstract

Refraction of a carbon dioxide laser pulse has been investigated for several radial density profiles in a plasma column. Beam guiding and focusing were observed when the density had a minimum on axis, while the beam was refracted toward the wall for a density maximum on axis. The observed heating of the plasma is consistent with classical inverse bremsstrahlung calculations. A new sensitive optical diagnostic technique for measuring electric and magnetic field distributions interferometrically by means of the Kerr and Faraday effects, respectively, has been developed. Other fast plasma heating investigations concerned exploding wires in large magnetic fields and enhancing the energy transfer to a plasma column by exciting a magnetosonic resonance of the column. (Modified author abstract)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 28, 1974
Accession Number
AD0778481

Entities

People

  • M . Kristiansen
  • Marion O. Hagler

Organizations

  • Texas Tech University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Bremsstrahlung
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Carbon Dioxide Lasers
  • Energy
  • Energy Transfer
  • Exploding Wires
  • Faraday Effect
  • Laser Pulses
  • Lasers
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Refraction
  • Resonance

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy