Plasma Opening Switch Operation Scenario

The regularities of current conduction and opening in microsecond megaampere plasma opening switches are considered. Switch conduction current scaling is determined by plasma pushing by magnetic field pressure and is compared with experimental results. Current channel structure is conditioned by diffusion and convective magnetic field transport into the accelerated plasma flow. An analytical solution for the magnetic field profile in the current channel is presented. Based on experimental results, the dependence of switch voltage on switch parameters is presented. Switch reclosure limits the energy output efficiency from an inductive storage into load.