Multislit streak camera investigation of plasma focus in the steady-state rundown phase

The technique of multislit streak photography was applied to investigate the plasma focus in the steady-state rundown phase. This enabled the axial and radial positions, and the rundown velocity of the current-carrying plasma sheath to be measured simultaneously. From these measurements, the radial profile of the plasma sheath in the plasma focus tube could be reconstructed and the plasma current was calculated. These calculated currents represented about 70% of the total circuit current flowing out of the capacitor bank, and these agreed with earlier results which were obtained via computer simulations of the measured voltage and current waveforms