Honors College Thesis

 

Radial Velocity Profiles and Magnetic Field Probes for Hypervelocity Plasma Deflagration Jets Public Deposited

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/6m311v37w

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  • The fundamental physics of turbulence in plasma is not well understood. Recent studies of the plasma deflagration accelerator in the High Temperature Gasdynamics Lab at Stanford University have demonstrated the presence of small scale instabilities that limit the lifetime of the jet/Z pinch and are not reproduced by coaxial plasma accelerator simulations. To provide more data to inform these simulations, a radial profile of axial velocity was measured using spectrometry. Magnetic field probes utilizing chip inductors were designed to produce well-behaved results at high frequencies, enabling the use of techniques like wavelet decomposition to identify the fastest-growing instabilities in the flow. The velocity measurement produced a radial profile of axial velocity that was consistent with prior experimental data and reproduced key features of the simulations. The core of the jet was shown to travel uniformly at 92 +/-5 km/s out to a 5 mm radius, and the shear flow around the jet rose to ~120 km/s at 10 mm. An impurity emission line (Fe I) was used to generate the velocity profile and thus the experiment may have failed to capture features tied specifically to the physical characteristics of the plasma species. Doppler and Stark broadening measurements revealed the presence of artificial broadening which increased the uncertainty. The magnetic field probe project produced prototypes that measure axial, azimuthal, and radial field variation. A calibration procedure for the probes was designed and demonstrated. The calibration curve shows the onset of resonances at ~10 MHz, calling for improvements to achieve the desired maximum operating frequency of 100 MHz. The curve also suggests that the probe will produce a signal of order ~1 V during operation, showing that the circuit components are sufficient for detection of the fine structure of the magnetic field.
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  • Stanford University SURF Program
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  • This work was funded by the Stanford Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
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