Advanced insulation materials are needed to support future electrodynamic tether missions as well as for other high voltage applications requiring direct exposure to vacuum/space plasma conditions, such as cabling to solar arrays. Some of the desired characteristics of these materials include the ability to resist damage from low-Earth-orbit environments (including atomic oxygen and micrometeor...

With the exception of the 632.8 nm neon line all the important visible and ultraviolet cw gas laser lines belong to the spectra of ionized atoms. To achieve proper laser oscillation the excitation of the upper levels of these lines is of primary importance. High energy electrons are needed for this process. As such electrons are in high concentration in the hollow cathode discharge, it was obvi...

The DIII–D fusion science research facility employs positive-ion based neutral beam ion sources for plasma heating and current drive experiments. Ion species produced inside the arc chamber of an ion source determine the composition of the neutral beams injected into the plasma and in turn affect the energy deposition along the cross section of the plasma. Arc chamber design and operation schem...

This paper presents an integrated portable measurement system for the study of high speed and high temperature unsteady plasma flows such as those found in the vicinity of high current switching arcs. The system permits direct and non-intrusive measurement of arc light emission images with a capture rate of 1 million images per second (1MHz), and 8 bit intensity resolution. Novel software techn...