Electric fields in plasmas under pulsed currents.
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.
Tsigutkin
K
K
Faculty of Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. tsigutkin@berkeley.edu
Doron
R
R
Stambulchik
E
E
Bernshtam
V
V
Maron
Y
Y
Fruchtman
A
A
Commisso
R J
RJ