An experimental stand for studying a high-current discharge in a dense gas

Abstract

Experimental studies performed at the Institute for Electrophysics and Electric Power, Russian Academy of Sciences, that aimed at both the study of physics of a high-current pulsed discharge in a superdense gas and the improvement of various prototypes of pulsed facilities allowed a number of physical phenomena characteristic of these processes to be revealed. The most interesting phenomena are the arc contraction and a considerable increase in the electric-field strength in the arc channel with an increase in the initial particle density over 1022 cm−3. A substantial increase in the sum of the near-electrode voltage drops is observed with a rise of the discharge-current amplitude. A setup is described and the measurement results at an initial particle concentration of up to 1022 cm−3 and a discharge-current amplitude of up to 2 MA are presented.