ABSTRACT
A vacuum-voltmeter (VVM) was fielded on the Saturn pulsed power generator during a series of argon gas-puff Z-pinch shots. Time-resolved voltage and separately measured load current are used to determine several dynamic properties as the load implodes, namely, the inductance, L(t), net energy coupled to the load, E(coupled)(t), and the load radius, r(t). The VVM is a two-stage voltage divider, designed to operate at voltages up to 2 MV. The VVM is presently being modified to operate at voltages up to 6 MV for eventual use on the Z generator.
ABSTRACT
The distribution of argon gas injected by a 12-cm-diameter triple-shell nozzle was characterized using both planar, laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) and high-sensitivity interferometry. PLIF is used to measure the density distribution at a given time by detecting fluorescence from an acetone tracer added to the gas. Interferometry involves making time-dependent, line-integrated gas density measurements at a series of chordal locations that are then Abel inverted to obtain the gas density distribution. Measurements were made on nominally identical nozzles later used for gas-puff Z-pinch experiments on the Saturn pulsed-power generator. Significant differences in the mass distributions obtained by the two techniques are presented and discussed, along with the strengths and weaknesses of each method.
ABSTRACT
Electric fields in a plasma that conducts a high-current pulse are measured as a function of time and space. The experiment is performed using a coaxial configuration, in which a current rising to 160 kA in 100 ns is conducted through a plasma that prefills the region between two coaxial electrodes. The electric field is determined using laser spectroscopy and line-shape analysis. Plasma doping allows for three-dimensional spatially resolved measurements. The measured peak magnitude and propagation velocity of the electric field is found to match those of the Hall electric field, inferred from the magnetic-field front propagation measured previously.
