Electromagnetic wave scattering from a tenuous high-temperature plasma is studied for cases where relativistic corrections must be included in the analysis to obtain a valid description for the spatial and spectral distribution of the scattered radiation. The peak of the spectrum of scattered radiation is shifted toward a shorter wavelength, e.g., the peak of the back-scattered radiation from a 50-keV plasma is at 4000 Å for 6943-Å incident radiation. The spectrum is no longer symmetrical about the scattering peak. It is also shown that the correct spectrum of scattering for a confined high-temperature plasma is not the same as the spectrum obtained using the model infinite plasma irradiated by a homogeneous plane wave. The difference in these two situations is a term of order v/c which is negligible only for the zero-order case (i.e., v/c ≪ 1). Thus, experiments to study the scattering of laser beams from high-temperature plasma should take account of these effects.
An analysis is presented for the production of weakly ionized plasmas by electron beams, with an emphasis on the production of broad, planar plasmas capable of reflecting X-band microwaves. Considered first in the analysis is the ability of weakly ionized plasmas to absorb, emit and reflect electromagnetic radiation. Following that is a determination of the electron beam parameters needed to produce plasmas, based on considerations of beam ionization, range, and stability. The results of the analysis are then compared with a series of experiments performed using a sheet electron beam to produce plasmas up to 0.6 m square by 2 cm thick. The electron beam in the experiments was generated using a long hollow-cathode discharge operating in an enhanced-glow mode. That mode has only recently been recognized, and a brief analysis of it is given for completeness. The conclusion of the study is that electron beams can produce large-area, planar plasmas with high efficiency, minimal gas heating, low electron temperature, high uniformity, and high microwave reflectivity, as compared with plasmas produced by other sources.
Results from a series of experiments are described which show that hot, reduced-density channels in the atmosphere usually cool by a process of turbulent convective mixing. Five different types of channels were created: (a) by the interaction of a pulsed CO2 laser with aerosols in the atmosphere, (b) by electric discharges in the atmosphere, (c) by laser-guided electric discharges in the atmosphere, and (d) and (e) by the absorption of CO2 laser radiation in nitrogen doped with sulfur hexafluoride. For channels in which the energy deposition was almost cylindrically symmetric and axially uniform, (e), the rate of cooling, after reaching pressure equilibrium, was within an order of magnitude of thermal conduction. But for channels in which the energy deposition was asymmetric and/or axially nonuniform, the rate of cooling was typically one thousand times faster than thermal conduction (for channels whose radius at pressure equilibrium was ∼1 cm). These channels were seen to be turbulent and to cool by mixing cold surrounding air into the hot channel. Such turbulence has been explained by Picone and Boris [Phys. Fluids 26, 365 (1983)] in terms of a residual vorticity that is caused by the noncylindrical energy deposition. A simple empirical formula is deduced relating the rate of cooling (growth of channel envelope) to the radius of the channel at pressure equilibrium and to the ambient sound speed, which indicates that the effect of vorticity/turbulence saturates for variations in the energy deposition of greater than about 2 to 1.
The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has been studying the use of a magnetically confined plasma sheet as a reflector for high-frequency (X-band) microwaves for broadband radar applications [IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. PS-19, 1228 (1991)]. A planar sheet plasma (50 cm×60 cm×1 cm) is produced using a 2–10 kV fast rise time square wave voltage source and a linear hollow cathode. Reproducible plasma distributions with density ≥1.2×1012 cm−3 have been formed in a low-pressure (100–500 mTorr of air) chamber located inside of a 100–300 G uniform magnetic field. One to ten pulse bursts of 20–1000 μs duration plasma sheets have been produced with pulse repetition frequencies of up to 10 kHz. Turn on and off times of the plasma are less than 10 μs each. The far-field antenna pattern of microwaves reflected off the plasma sheet is similar to that from a metal plate at the same location [IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci PS-20, 1036 (1992)]. Interferometer measurements show the critical surface to remain nearly stationary during the current pulse. Plasma density measurements and optical emissions indicate that the plasma is produced by a flux of energetic electrons formed near the hollow cathode. The sheet appears to be stable to driver voltage and current fluctuations (NRL Memorandum Report No. 7461, 28 March 1994, NTIS Document No. AD-A278758).
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