Filling the Gap of a Plasma Opening Switch with Plasma from an Electroexploding Wire in an External Magnetic Field

摘要

The dynamics of filling the interelectrode gap of a plasma opening switch (POS) using an electroex-ploding wire with a diameter of 4 μm (tungsten) and 6 μm (carbon) is considered. The wire was connected to coaxial electrodes of the POS perpendicular to the force lines of a longitudinal magnetic field, which was created by an external source. When a current was transmitted through the wire, the longitudinal speed of produced plasma was ≈10~6 cm/s, and the azimuthal speed was ≈ 10~7 cm/s (for tungsten) and ≥1.3 × 10~7 cm/s (for carbon). As a result, a plasma "washer" was formed and the total quantity of particles in it was determined by the parameters of the wire and the POS gap. This result is the first step in a solution of "the first shot" problem.