Publications

Results 89376–89400 of 99,299

Search results

Jump to search filters

Experimental observation of plasma formation and current transfer in fine wire expansion experiments

Deeney, Christopher D.; Sinars, Daniel

When several kA pulses are passed through single, fine 25 {micro}m diameter wires, the wire material heats, melts, vaporizes and expands. Initially the voltage across--and current through--a wire increases until an abrupt voltage collapse occurs. After this collapse the voltage remains at a relative small value while the current continues to increase. In order to understand how this early time behavior may affect the subsequent implosion, small-scale experiments at Cornell University's Laboratory of Plasma Studies concentrated on diagnosing expanding single wire dynamics. X-ray backlighting, interferometry and Schlieren imaging as well as current and voltage measurements have been employed. The voltage collapse has been attributed to the formation of plasma around the wire and a transfer of current to this highly conducting coronal plasma. Interferometry has confirmed the plasma formation, but the current transfer has only been postulated. Subsequent experiments on the Z-Facility at Sandia National Laboratories have produced impressive x-ray yields etc.

More Details
TYPE Report YEAR 2003
DOIOSTI

Effect of Dielectric Photoemission on Surface Breakdown: An LDRD Report

Jorgenson, Roy E.; Warne, Larry K.

The research discussed in this report was conceived during our earlier attempts to simulate breakdown across a dielectric surface using a Monte Carlo approach. While cataloguing the various ways that a dielectric surface could affect the breakdown process, we found that one obvious effect--photoemission from the surface--had been ignored. Initially, we felt that inclusion of this effect could have a major impact on how an ionization front propagates across a surface because of the following argument chain: (1) The photon energy required to release electrons from a surface via photoemission is less than the photon energy required to ionize gas molecules directly. (2) The mean free path of a photon in gas is longer for low-energy photons than for high-energy photons. (3) Photoionization is a major effect in advancing the ionization front for breakdown in gas without a surface, therefore, we know that even high-energy photons can be released from the head of a streamer and propagate some distance through the gas. Our hypothesis, therefore, was that photons with energies near the threshold of photoemission could travel further in front of the streamer before being absorbed than higher-energy photons needed for photoionization, yet the lower-energy photons, with the help of the surface, could still create seed electrons for new avalanches. Thus, the streamer would advance more rapidly next to a surface than in gas alone. Additionally, the photoemission from the surface would add to the electrons in the avalanche and cause the avalanche to grow faster. After some study, however, we are forced to conclude that although photoemission does contribute to avalanche growth at fields near breakdown threshold, secondary electron emission causes electrons to stick to the surface and cancels out the growth due to photoemission. This conclusion assumes a discharge that occurs over a short period of time so that charging of the surface, which could alter its secondary electron emission characteristics, does not occur. This report documents the numerical work we did on investigating this effect and the experimental work we did on pre-breakdown phenomena in gas.

More Details
TYPE Report YEAR 2003
DOIOSTI
Results 89376–89400 of 99,299
Results 89376–89400 of 99,299