Abstract
Plasma discharges are sustained in the focus of a continuous, high-power microwave beam. The experimental design minimizes interactions between the chamber walls and both the microwave beam and the resulting discharges so as to approximate free-space conditions. Discharges were generated by a multikilowatt, 4.7-GHz CW microwave beam at pressures ranging from 100 to 200 mtorr. The CW source enabled the evolution of the plasma-beam system to be observed over time scales ranging from seconds to hours. A variety of discharge behaviors are observed depending on the conditions (power, pressure, and gas composition) within the chamber. The observed discharges can be classified into three discharge modes: unstable, stable, and quasi-stable. Here, we present observations and a preliminary analysis of the various discharge modes observed in the experiment.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 9093076 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1974-1978 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2020 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
Manuscript received November 15, 2019; revised March 2, 2020; accepted April 13, 2020. Date of publication May 14, 2020; date of current version June 10, 2020. This work was supported by the United States Air Force Research Laboratory’s Electromagnetic Weapons Research Program. The review of this article was arranged by Senior Editor D. A. Shiffler. (Corresponding author: Remington Reid.) Remington Reid and Adrian Lopez are with the United States Air Force Research Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM 87117 USA (e-mail: [email protected]).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| United States Air Force Research Laboratory’s Electromagnetic Weapons Research Program |
Keywords
- Electrodeless discharges
- high-power microwaves
- ionization
- ionization waves
- microwave breakdown
- microwave plasma