Experimental study of the DECADE cableguns

Summary form only given. The cableguns used to initiate the operation of the DECADE plasma opening switch (POS) consist of sections of Teflon insulated copper coaxial cable machined to a conical nozzle shape. An arc formed across this nozzle ablates the Teflon insulator and copper center conductor and injects the resulting plasma into the POS. Single cableguns have been tested in a laboratory facility to obtain measurements of the average mass ablated and to obtain optical emission spectra, laser interferometer measurements and time resolved photographs. The cableguns were weighed and measured before and after a sequence of 300 shots to determine the average mass of Teflon and copper lost per shot. It was found that the average mass loss of 277 micrograms per shot consisted of 61% copper and 39% Teflon when a capacitor voltage of 25 kV was used. Time integrated spectral emission data revealed mostly spectral lines of singly ionized fluorine and carbon with no copper visible. A semi-quantitative analysis of the spectrum suggests a plasma temperature of approximately 2.5 eV.