Results from the Triton Electron Beam-Plasma Interaction Experiment.
Abstract
A 1-MeV, 40-80-kA, 60-ns electron beam was injected into a 2 x 10 to the 15th power cu cm density, cool (Te = Ti = 3 eV), 4-m-long theta pinch plasma. Local time-dependent magnetic-probe measurements were made across a plasma diameter, including within the beam channel, and measurements of the plasma electron density and velocity distribution function within the beam channel were made by Thomson scattering before, during, and after beam injection. With a beam cross-sectional area of 40 sq cm, the beam-to-plasma density ratio was < 0.001, and the interaction was weak, with beam-energy coupling to the plasma of approximately equal to or less than 1% per meter. Nevertheless, the observed heating rate was too large to be explained on the basis of classical collisional processes. Scattering and magnetic diagnostics gave heating rates and coupling efficiencies which disagree by as much as a factor of 2. Net current density within the beam-plasma interaction region was higher than predicted by return-current theory. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA025376
Entities
People
- D. A. Hammer
- K. A. Gerber
- W. F. Dove
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory