IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science

This paper aims at studying the oblique reflection of solitons in an inhomogeneous plasma having finite-temperature ions and trapped electrons (two-temperature nonisothermal electrons). In order to study the soliton reflection, a coupled equation is derived based on modified Korteweg-deVries equations for the incident and reflected solitons, and then, it is solved along with the use of incident so... View full abstract»

The semiconductor bridge (SCB) is a heavily n-doped semiconductor. The SCB device has advantages for reducing voltage and energy requirements compared with a conventional device. It also has very excellent safety. When driven with a short low-energy pulse, the SCB creates hot plasma to ignite energetic materials. The hot plasma permeates the energetic materials and deposits its latent heat of fusi... View full abstract»

A two-section coaxial vircator with radial electron beam injection and electrodynamic feedback was developed. The use of electron beam premodulation in the vircator allows an increase in efficiency and ensures single-mode oscillation. The vircator operates with no external magnetic field, features a comparatively low operating impedance of the vacuum diode (10-15 Ω), and makes feasible wide... View full abstract»

We propose principles which represent a systematic approach to the synthesis of multimode waveguides converting a specific input field into a different output field. Using these principles, fast and efficient methods of synthesis with specified properties can be constructed for any field analysis method. Several new methods of synthesis for most important applications are offered, and synthesized ... View full abstract»

The particle-in-cell (PIC) algorithm is one of the most widely used algorithms in computational plasma physics. With the advent of graphical processing units (GPUs), large-scale plasma simulations on inexpensive GPU clusters are in reach. We present an implementation of a fully relativistic plasma PIC algorithm for GPUs based on the NVIDIA CUDA library. It supports a hybrid architecture consisting... View full abstract»

The design and construction of a 13.56-MHz RF power amplifier has been carried out on the basis of a modified resonant LC circuit in parallel regarding to the classic E-class amplifier LC series resonant circuit; this was done in order to take advantage of the operation characteristics of the resonant capacitor as a bidirectional voltage source. Therefore, the parallel LC circuit amplifies the vol... View full abstract»

The application of the ionic wind in the fields of aerodynamic control and heat transfer is limited by its low velocity and small active area. This paper deals with the experimental and theoretical analysis of the ionic-wind velocity in serial-staged electrohydrodynamic gas pumps under a negative corona discharge in air. Each stage consists of a pair of needle array-to-ring or needle array-to-mesh... View full abstract»

This paper investigated some chemical and physical factors which probably affect the decolorization of aqueous acid red B solution by atmospheric abnormal glow discharge. When the aqueous solution served as the cathode, effective decolorization occurred in the inert gas discharges as well as in the active gas discharges. The hydroxyl radicals were mainly responsible for the decolorization in the s... View full abstract»

A mercury-free flat fluorescent lamp with an arclike electrode is developed to improve luminance and luminous efficacy and to prevent discharge contraction. The influences of the rising time of a driving waveform and the gas mixture under different gas pressures on luminance and luminous efficacy are studied. The experimental results show that the luminance and luminous efficacy increase as the ga... View full abstract»

For the first plasma diagnostics to be deployed at the Laser Megajoule (LMJ), the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA) is developing ultrafast x-ray imaging cameras to analyze spatial and temporal evolution of laser-plasma interaction parameters. These cameras, which operate in the target chamber vacuum, are composed of a one-dimensional (1-D) streak or a two-dimensional (2-D) gated det... View full abstract»

The typical response of an X-ray converter material to the passage of a high-current relativistic electron beam is ionization and rapid dispersal. Experiments have been performed on the Dragon-I linear induction accelerator to study this phenomenon. In this paper, we report the fast photography and Faraday cup experiments performed to quantify the plasma-plume expansion and velocities of ions. Mon... View full abstract»

This paper presents a high-voltage pulsed-power system based on low-voltage switch-capacitor units that are connected to a current source for several applications such as plasma systems. A modified positive buck-boost converter topology is used to utilize the current source concept, and a series of low-voltage switch-capacitor units is connected to the current source in order to provide a high vol... View full abstract»

The operation of a pulse-charged spark gap that is triggered by gallium arsenide (GaAs) photoconductive semiconductor switches (PCSSs) was investigated. By measuring the currents with the streamer discharge, we analyzed the mechanisms of breakdown between the semi-insulating GaAs PCSS and the spark gap. Two similar combination setups were studied by different gap structures. It was shown that the ... View full abstract»

A cylindrical dielectric model is used to compute transmembrane potential changes and evaluate the axial electric field magnitudes produced within a nerve by a high-intensity relatively short electrical pulse. For concreteness, the pulse was taken to have a duration of about 700 ns and large current magnitudes in keeping with ongoing experimental studies within our group. Interest in this quantita... View full abstract»

High-power and high-current test technology has many requirements for a discharging switch, such as high hold-off voltage, wide operating voltage scope, short discharging delay time and jitter, strong charge transfer ability, and long lifetime. A high-voltage and high-current triggered vacuum switch (TVS) with a surface flashover trigger device has been designed, and the trigger device is made fro... View full abstract»

Experimental studies on the volt-ampere characteristics and thermal efficiencies of a dual-jet direct-current arc thermal plasma generator with a cold gas injection are conducted. Discharge image processing results using the contour extraction method with the variable binary thresholding technique show that, compared with the conventional dual-jet plasma generator, the length of the high-gas-tempe... View full abstract»

The theoretical and experimental studies of cathode plasma jets in vacuum arc and the effect of magnetic field on them have been under way for several years. In this paper, different axial magnetic field electrodes were tested in a vacuum chamber, obvious individual cathode plasma jets were observed, and the cathode-jet inclination was also detected. Based on the numerical calculation of magnetic ... View full abstract»

A low-dimensional plasma physics based on the nonlinear dynamical model of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system called WINDMI is used as the basis for a real-time space weather prediction system. The input into the model is a driving voltage derived from solar wind parameters and the interplanetary magnetic field measured by the Advanced Composition Explorer satellite. The output is a field-aligned... View full abstract»

The requirements for measurements on modern tokamak fusion plasmas are outlined, and the techniques and systems used to make the measurements, usually referred to as “diagnostics”, are introduced. The basics of three particular diagnostics - magnetics, neutron systems, and a laser based optical system - are outlined as examples of modern diagnostic systems, and the implementation of ... View full abstract»

The feasibility of a relativistic Cherenkov microwave oscillator with no magnetic field for an electron-beam energy of ~0.5 MeV is studied. The oscillator geometry, with an efficiency of electron-beam power conversion to microwave radiation of ~20%, is simulated. The estimated radiation power is 400 MW. In the experiment, stable oscillation with ~6% efficiency is realized, taking into account the ... View full abstract»

Exposures to nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs) are known to induce intracellular responses, such as the induction of apoptosis, offering a promising new method to treat cancer. This and other secondary biological responses are believed to be promoted by an initial formation of nanopores in cellular membranes. The primarily responsible charging mechanisms depend on pulse duration and ampli... View full abstract»

Helium (He) and Argon (Ar) atmospheric pressure plasma jets operated with low-frequency power source are designed and studied. The current and voltage waveforms, formation of plasma jets, estimated rotational and vibrational temperatures, optical emission spectra, and numerical simulations for He and Ar gases are investigated to analyze the plasma characteristics. Ar plasma shows higher discharge ... View full abstract»

The aim of this paper is to show and discuss the influence of cold plasma treatment on a germination enhancement of wheat and oat caryopses in wider context. Wheat and oat corns have been stimulated by cold plasma discharge under power of 500 W, air gas flow of 200 ml/min for different time durations (from 0 to 2400 s). Wheat seed coat showed an eroded surface after plasma treatment. Plasma treatm... View full abstract»