Abstract

Spectroscopic diagnostic methods have been developed to investigate plasmas in pulsed power systems. The plasma duration is ≃100 ns and the electron density and temperature are in the 10¹⁴-10¹⁶-cm^–3 and 1-15-eV ranges, respectively. Because of the experimental irreproducibility and the hostile environment in high power discharges, the time histories of line intensities and their spectral profiles had to be observed in a single discharge. The temporal, spatial, and spectral resolutions required are a few nanoseconds, a fraction of 1 mm, and 0.01 Å, respectively. Using these techniques we determined the distribution of the strong electric field outside the plasma in intense ion diodes from line emission Stark shift,¹ the magnetic field penetration into the plasma from Zeeman splitting,² and the velocity distributions of ions and neutrals in various directions from Doppler broadening and shift.² The determination of the electron temperature and the particle fluxes in the plasma, using the observed line intensities, necessitated detailed analysis of the time-dependent collisional radiative processes in the plasma.² The ground state densities and atomic level deexcitation rates were observed using plasma-induced fluorescence.³ The frequencies and amplitudes of turbulent electric fields in the plasma were studied from plasma satellites and from anisotropy of Stark broadening.⁴ Evidence for a non-Maxwellian electron energy distribution was also obtained.

© 1989 Optical Society of America