Method and device to produce hot, dense, long-lived plasmas
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Authors
Maier, William Bryan II
Nolting, Eugene Ellis
Snyder, Donald D.
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2014-08-19
Date
Publisher
The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US)
Language
en_US
Abstract
A device and method to produce a hot, dense, long-lived
plasma. In one embodiment, a large electric current is passed
through an outer tube enclosing in part a piston, a notched
conducting rod and central electrode. Electromagnetic forces
accelerate the piston to a point high enough to mechanically
separate the conducting rod at the location of the notch before
the conducting rod is melted. On separation, a plasma is
generated by the passage of electric current though a gas
produced by vaporization of the conducting rod and nearby
materials. An insulator enclosed Within the tube prevents the
plasma from shorting to the outer tube until the current flow
has produced a sufficient magnetic field to contain the
plasma. The piston is then accelerated by a combination of
electromagnetic forces and mechanical pressure from the hot
gas through which the electric current is passing.
Type
Patent
Description
Patent
Series/Report No
Department
Physics
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.