Conduction phase energy losses in microsecond plasma opening switch

Abstract

Summary form only given, as follows. Energy losses at the conduction phase of Plasma opening switch (POS) performance are responsible for the characteristics of the opening phase. This means that a flow of accelerated ions which is observed in POS plasma has prepared opening conditions long before the switch opens and the sharp voltage pulse is generated. Experiments study a role of the resistive component in POS plasma impedance and the ion energy losses at the conduction phase. Axial current velocity and vacuum line inductance increase were measured in various moments during current front penetration into the plasma bridge. This allowed to separate POS plasma resistive component and that responsible for a plasma bridge acceleration. Energy losses distribution associated with both components is reported. The measurements allow to estimate a share of total energy dissipated in the POS at the conduction phase. The POS conduction was studied at 120 kA current level and 1 ms duration. The preliminary data suggest that about 20% of energy transferred through the inductive storage is dissipated in ion flow.