Arc-driven rail accelerators have potential applications in the areas of equation-of-state measurements, space propulsion and nuclear fusion. The arc has a very low mass and provides excellent sliding contact with the rails. It also readily withstands high pressure (tends of MPa at the leading edge of the arc). The resulting acceleration can be as high as 250.000 times the acceleration due to gravity, leading to a very high velocity up to 10 km/s in a time period of 1 to 2 ms. Theoretical calculations indicate that the arc in a rail accelerator is extremely dense with an electron density in the neighborhood of 1026 per m3 and has a relatively low temperature (about 30.000 K). The diagnostics of such an arc provides considerable challenge to the experimenter. Methods that have been used to locate the position of the arc as a function of time are presented in this paper.
Arc diagnostics in a rail accelerator
Bogendiagnostik in einem schienengebunden Beschleuniger
1985
4 Seiten, 7 Bilder, 9 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Rail Accelerator Technology and Applications
NTIS | 1985
|Rail accelerator technology and applications
NTRS | 1985
|