title: Electric fields in plasmas under pulsed currents.
abstract: Electric fields in a plasma that conducts a high-current pulse are measured as a function of time and space. The experiment is performed using a coaxial configuration, in which a current rising to 160 kA in 100 ns is conducted through a plasma that prefills the region between two coaxial electrodes. The electric field is determined using laser spectroscopy and line-shape analysis. Plasma doping allows for three-dimensional spatially resolved measurements. The measured peak magnitude and propagation velocity of the electric field is found to match those of the Hall electric field, inferred from the magnetic-field front propagation measured previously.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. tsigutkin@berkeley.edu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsigutkin
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Doron
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stambulchik
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bernshtam
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maron
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fruchtman
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Commisso