Modeling of Electron Heating and the Spatiotemporal Evolution of Emission in a Current-Sheet Plasma

Results are presented from a detailed study of the behavior of the electron temperature during the evolution of a current sheet by comparing the data from spectral measurements with the spatiotemporal evolution of the emission intensities of the atomic and ionic lines of the working gas (He) and impurities (C, O) calculated in the collisional-radiative model. It is shown that the electron temperature in the center of the sheet attains a value of T[sub e] = 110 ± 40 eV; under these conditions, taking into account metastable states affects the calculated results only slightly. The spatial profiles of the electron temperature and the plasma emission in the spectral lines of various atoms and ions across the plasma sheet are calculated as functions of time. It is shown that as the electron temperature grows most of the spectral lines of atoms and ions of the working gas and impurities are depleted in the center of the sheet and the emission region shifts toward the periphery of the sheet. The results obtained confirm the previous conclusion that, in this regime, a hot plasma is formed in the center of the sheet.