Visible/uv Spectroscopic Analysis of Plasma Generation from Fine Wires

Summary form only given. Experiments are underway to study plasma generation from fine wires. For these experiments, a capacitive discharge (100kV, 80kA) drives one or more aluminum wires (25-100 microns) to form a plasma. Visible/uv spectroscopic diagnostics are employed to obtain spatial and temporal temperature and density profiles. Experiments are conducted in a return current geometry to study the effects of global, as well as self-magnetic fields, on plasma production. Results are compared to 1-D MHD calculations and scaling laws for plasma mass ablation rates. The goal of this research is to generate a quiescent, highly ionized, unmagnetized plasma in the 10¹⁵-10¹⁷ cm^-3 regime, with a temperature of 1-10 s of eV for a few hundred nanoseconds. Such a plasma could be used in electron beam accelerators to aid in beam focusing, an important factor in applications such as flash X-ray radiography.