Open AccessTHE STUDY OF θ-PINCH PLASMA USING A MACH-ZEHNDER INTERFEROMETER ILLUMINATED BY A GIANT PULSED RUBY LASER
Author(s) -
THE LASER INTEEFEBENCE KESEARCH GROUP
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.23.1
Subject(s) - pinch , plasma , magnetic field , atomic physics , reversed field pinch , plasma diagnostics , materials science , laser , electron density , physics , mach–zehnder interferometer , interferometry , optics , magnetohydrodynamics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics
The plasma electron density, shape and instability of the 23 kJ θ-pinch have been studied through the use of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a giant pulsed ruby laser illumination. The axial interferograms in the range of 45-120 m Torr deuterium pressures gave two-dimensional electron density distributions for the dicharge and established peak plasma electron densities in the range of 6-1016-2.3·1017 cm-3 for the plasma at peak pinch. The time of the peak pinch was about 1/3 of the first half-cycle of the main compressive magnetic field. The plasma characteristic time of containment (time required for the number of particles to be reduced to 1/e) close to peak pinch was 1.8-4.3μs. The interferograms with reverse bias magnetic field showed that the bias magnetic field was trapped in the plasma, and revealed that radial hydromagnetic oscillation of the plasma occurred between the trapped magnetic field and the main compressive magnetic field. The interferograms also showed that the plasma is essentially stable during the first half-cycle of the main compressive magnetic field in the range 45-80 m Torr deuterium pressures.