Visible light emission measurements from a dense electrothermal launcher plasma

Author

Hankins, O.E. ; Bourham, M.A. ; Earnhart, J. ; Gilligan, J.G.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Nucl. Eng., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA

Volume

29

Issue

1

fYear

1993

fDate

1/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1158

Lastpage

1161

Abstract

Measurements of the visible light emission from dense, weakly nonideal plasmas have been performed on the experimental electrothermal launcher device SIRENS. The plasma is created by the ablation of a Lexan insulator in the source, which then flows through a cylindrical barrel which serves as the material sample. Visible light emission spectra have been observed both in-bore and from the muzzle flash of the barrel, and from the flash of the source. Recent measurements along the axis of the device indicate time-averaged plasma temperatures in the barrel of about 1 eV for lower energy shots, which agree with experimental measurements of the average heat flux and plasma conductivity along the barrel. Measurements of visible emission from the source indicate time-averaged temperatures of 1 to 2 eV which agree with the theoretical estimates derived from ablated mass measurements and calculated estimates derived from plasma conductivity measurements

Keywords

electromagnetic launchers; plasma diagnostics; plasma guns; Lexan insulator; SIRENS; ablation; dense electrothermal launcher plasma; spectra; time-averaged plasma temperatures; visible light emission; weakly nonideal plasmas; Conductivity measurement; Electrothermal effects; Energy measurement; Performance evaluation; Plasma density; Plasma devices; Plasma materials processing; Plasma measurements; Plasma sources; Plasma temperature;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.195745

Filename

195745