Production of a high velocity collisionless plasma pulse

Abstract

By interaction with a moving inhomogeneous magnetic field, produced by a traveling wave on a special transmission line, plasma is accelerated. If collisions between the lons are negligiblc in the plasma, pulses with a homogeneous radial density distribution andvelocities up to 10$^{8}$ cm/sec are observed. The reflection mechanism of the ions by the magnetie field ean be described by a free partiele model in good agreement with the measurements. Losses of partieles, due to a leakage on the axis of the field and due to seattering are studied by measurements with an ion speetrometer and a mierowave interferometer