Diagnosing ratio of electron density to collision frequency of plasma surrounding scaled model in a shock tube using low-frequency alternating magnetic field phase shift

Abstract

A non-contact low-frequency (LF) method of diagnosing the plasma surrounding a scaled model in a shock tube is proposed. This method utilizes the phase shift occurring after the transmission of an LF alternating magnetic field through the plasma to directly measure the ratio of the plasma loop average electron density to collision frequency. An equivalent circuit model is used to analyze the relationship of the phase shift of the magnetic field component of LF electromagnetic waves with the plasma electron density and collision frequency. The applicable range of the LF method on a given plasma scale is analyzed. The upper diagnostic limit for the ratio of the electron density (unit: m−3) to collision frequency (unit: Hz) exceeds 1 × 1011, enabling an electron density to exceed 1 × 1020 m−3 and a collision frequency to be less than 1 GHz. In this work, the feasibility of using the LF phase shift to implement the plasma diagnosis is also assessed. Diagnosis experiments on shock tube equipment are conducted by using both the electrostatic probe method and LF method. By comparing the diagnostic results of the two methods, the inversion results are relatively consistent with each other, thereby preliminarily verifying the feasibility of the LF method. The ratio of the electron density to the collision frequency has a relatively uniform distribution during the plasma stabilization. The LF diagnostic path is a loop around the model, which is suitable for diagnosing the plasma that surrounds the model. Finally, the causes of diagnostic discrepancy between the two methods are analyzed. The proposed method provides a new avenue for diagnosing high-density enveloping plasma.