Ivars Henins

Decontamination of chemical and biological warfare (CBW) agents using an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ)

The atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) [A. Schutze et al., IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 26, 1685 (1998)] is a nonthermal, high pressure, uniform glow plasma discharge that produces a high velocity effluent stream of highly reactive chemical species. The discharge operates on a feedstock gas (e.g., He/O2/H2O), which flows between an outer, grounded, cylindrical electrode and an inner, coaxial electrode powered at 13.56 MHz rf. While passing through the plasma, the feedgas becomes excited, dissociated or ionized by electron impact. Once the gas exits the discharge volume, ions and electrons are rapidly lost by recombination, but the fast-flowing effluent still contains neutral metastable species (e.g., O2*, He*) and radicals (e.g., O, OH). This reactive effluent has been shown to be an effective neutralizer of surrogates for anthrax spores and mustard blister agent. Unlike conventional wet decontamination methods, the plasma effluent does not cause corrosion and it does not destroy wiring, electronics, or mo...

Discharge Phenomena of an Atmospheric Pressure Radio-Frequency Capacitive Plasma Source

Discharge phenomena of a nonthermal atmospheric pressure plasma source have been studied. An atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) operates using rf power and produces a stable homogeneous discharge at atmospheric pressure. After breakdown, the APPJ operation is divided into two regimes, a “normal” operating mode when the discharge is stable and homogeneous, and a “failure” mode when the discharge converts into a filamentary arc. Current and voltage (I–V) characteristics and spatially resolved emission intensity profiles have been measured during the normal operating mode. These measurements show that the APPJ produces an alpha (α) mode rf capacitive discharge. Based upon a dimensional analysis using the observed I–V characteristics, a rough estimate is made for plasma density of 3×1011 cm−3 and an electron temperature of 2 eV. In addition, the gas temperature of 120 °C has been spectroscopically measured inside the discharge. These plasma parameters indicate that the APPJ shows promise for various mater...

An atmospheric pressure plasma source

An atmospheric pressure plasma source operated by radio frequency power has been developed. This source produces a unique discharge that is volumetric and homogeneous at atmospheric pressure with a gas temperature below 300 °C. It also produces a large quantity of oxygen atoms, ∼5×1015 cm−3, which has important value for materials applications. A theoretical model shows electron densities of 0.2–2×1011 cm−3 and characteristic electron energies of 2–4 eV for helium discharges at a power level of 3–30 W cm−3.

Gas breakdown in an atmospheric pressure radio-frequency capacitive plasma source

Gas breakdown is studied in an atmospheric pressure rf capacitive plasma source developed for materials applications. At a rf frequency of 13.56 MHz, breakdown voltage is largely a function of the product of the pressure and the discharge gap spacing, approximating the Paschen curve. However, breakdown voltage varies substantially with rf frequency due to a change in the electron loss mechanism. A large increase in breakdown voltage is observed when argon, oxygen, or nitrogen is added to helium despite their lower ionization potential. Discussion is given for optimal breakdown conditions at atmospheric pressure.

Experimental determination of the conservation of magnetic helicity from the balance between source and spheromak

The conjecture that magnetic helicity (linked flux) is conserved in magnetized plasmas for time scales that are short compared to the resistive diffusion time is experimentally tested in the CTX spheromak [Phys. Rev. Lett. 45, 1264 (1980); 51, 39 (1983); Nucl. Fusion 24, 267 (1984)]. Helicity is created electrostatically by current drawn from electrodes. The magnetized plasma then flows into a conducting flux conserver where the energy per helicity of the plasma is minimized and a spheromak is formed on a relaxation time scale of many Alfven times. The magnetic field strength of the equilibrium is subsequently increased and sustained. The amount of helicity created by the magnetized coaxial plasma source, the helicity content of the spheromak equilibrium, and the resistive loss of the helicity are measured to determine the balance of helicity between source and spheromak with a ±16% uncertainty. In CTX the amount of energy that must be rapidly dissipated within the conducting boundary while conserving hel...

The impedance and energy efficiency of a coaxial magnetized plasma source used for spheromak formation and sustainment

Electrostatic (dc) helicity injection has previously been shown to successfully sustain the magnetic fields of spheromaks and tokamaks. The magnitude of the injected magnetic helicity balances (within experimental error) the flux lost by resistive decay of the toroidal equilibrium. Hence the problem of optimizing this current drive scheme involves maximizing the injected helicity (the voltage‐connecting‐flux product) while minimizing the current (which multiplied by the voltage represents the energy input and also possible damage to the electrodes). The impedance (voltage‐to‐current ratio) and energy efficiency of a dc helicity injection experiment are studied on the CTX spheromak [Phys. Fluids 29, 3415 (1986)]. Over several years changes were made in the physical geometry of the coaxial magnetized plasma source as well as changes in the external electrical circuit. The source could be operated over a wide range of external charging voltage (and hence current), applied axial flux, and source gas flow rate...

Neutral bremsstrahlung measurement in an atmospheric-pressure radio frequency discharge

Neutral bremsstrahlung emission spectrum is measured in an atmospheric-pressure radio frequency (rf) capacitive discharge for a gas mixture of helium (99.5%) and oxygen (0.5%) using a high resolution triple monochromator between 450 and 1000 nm. Good agreement is obtained for spectral variation and absolute intensity between the observed neutral bremsstrahlung and theoretical emissivity calculated using electron–neutral momentum cross sections. Based on a theoretical fitting, the discharge is characterized by a time averaged electron density of 2.9×1011 cm−3 and an electron temperature of 1.9 eV for an input power density of 28 W/cm3.

Energy confinement studies in spheromaks with mesh flux conservers

The paper presents experiments and analysis of energy confinement on the CTX spheromak. Compared to previous published results from 0.4 m radius flux conservers, in a 0.67 m radius mesh flux conserver (with the current density kept constant), the magnetic field increases while the plasma density is kept the same. However, the electron temperature does not rise, and hence βvol drops. The plasma resistivity remains constant (the resistance drops as the size increases), and the energy confinement time stays the same. Plasma energy content results from spheromaks during sustainment by helicity injection are also presented and show confinement equivalent to that during the decay phase. Increased magnetic field in the same size experiment produces very little improvement in electron temperature and a decrease in confinement time. The resistive decay time is found to be empirically independent of the core electron temperature. It is, instead, proportional to the strength of the magnetic field at constant plasma density, while the ratio of magnetic field to decay time depends on plasma density, consistently with ionization breakdown at the edge of the spheromak dominating helicity dissipation. The possible causes of this observed confinement are examined separately in detailed quantitative and qualitative studies. Absolutely calibrated multichord bolometry shows that impurity radiation is not the cause of the low electron temperatures. The particle confinement time has increased with size, but does not show an increase with increasing magnetic field. At the lower βvol of the larger experiment, the particle replacement power cannot explain the unaccounted energy losses. Any important role of pressure driven modes in the CTX energy balance is shown to be inconsistent with the available CTX data. The possibility that rotating coherent current driven kink modes can seriously degrade energy confinement is evaluated and discounted owing to the lack of improvement when the modes are absent. The role of anomalous ion heating is examined, and the available data are presented. Finally, a hypothesis explaining these results is presented, suggestions for future work are made, and the results are summarized.

Progress with energy confinement time in the CTX spheromak

Large improvements in spheromak parameters and new understanding have been obtained from the CTX experiment at Los Alamos [Phys. Rev. Lett. 51, 39 (1983); 61, 2457 (1988)]. In one experiment the global energy confinement time has been increased an order of magnitude over previous experiments to 0.2 msec and the magnetic‐energy decay time increased to 2 msec. These results were achieved in a decaying spheromak by reducing the helicity dissipation in the edge. In another smaller spheromak, record electron temperatures (∼400 eV) and record magnetic field strengths (∼30 kG) have been obtained.

The Ohmic heating of a spheromak to 100 eV

The first spheromaks with Thomson‐scattering‐measured electron temperatures of over 100 eV are described. The spheromak is generated by a magnetized coaxial plasma source in a background gas of 30 mTorr of H2, and it is stably confined in an oblate 80 cm diam copper mesh flux conserver. The open mesh design allows rapid impurity transport out of the spheromak. The peak temperature, measured using multipoint Thomson scattering, is observed to rise from approximately 25 eV to over 100 eV in about 0.2 msec due to Ohmic heating from the decaying magnetic fields. Density (∼5×1013 cm−3) and magnetic fields (approximately 2 kG) are measured using interferometry and magnetic probes.