A STUDY OF LASER GENERATED PLASMAS AND THEIR APPLICATION TO HIGH POWER MICROWAVE SWITCHING.
Abstract
The production and properties of dense, rapidly expanding carbon plasmas, generated in vacuum by irradiating graphite surfaces with the focused beam of a Q-switched ruby laser giving 6 Mw of peak power in a 25 ns pulse are presented. The microwave properties of plasmas generated from a target at the center of the broad face of X-band waveguide have been studied to assess the potential of using these plasmas for rapidly switching microwave powers in excess of 10 Mw. The ions from the plasmas have been collected on a plate close to the waveguide wall opposite the laser target. Microwave 'switching' experiments using r-f powers up to 50 kw showed that due to nonlinear interaction between the plasma and r-f strong absorption of the r-f power by the plasma can occur and therefore that a practical switching arrangement would require the use of reactive waveguide elements in conjunction with the laser generated plasma. A gas dynamic model for the plasma expansion is analyzed and shown to agree with the observed experimental results.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0834237
Entities
People
- David Michael Stevenson
Organizations
- Cornell University College of Engineering