Temperature and lifetime measurements in the SSX wind tunnel

2018/09/10 by M. Kaur, Kaur, M., K. D. Gelber +5
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #physics.plasm-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1809.03304

arxiv created 2018/09/10 · arxiv updated 2018/09/11

Abstract

We describe electron temperature measurements in the SSX MHD wind tunnel using two different methods. First, we estimate T_e along a chord by measuring the ratio of the C_III~97.7~nm to C_IV~155~nm line intensities using a vacuum ultraviolet monochrometer. Second, we record a biasing scan to a double Langmuir probe to obtain a local measurement of T_e. The aim of these studies is to increase the Taylor state lifetime, primarily by increasing the electron temperature. Also, a model is proposed to predict magnetic lifetime of relaxed states and is found of predict the lifetime satisfactorily. Furthermore, we find that proton cooling can be explained by equilibration with the electrons.

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