Abstract:
Experimental and theoretical studies of effective power supplies for plasma loads of the pulsed plasma accelerator type are presented. Increasing the power supply of plasma loads while maintaining the conditions of their matched operation and, as a result, increassing the total energy input into the plasma formations of a pulsed plasma accelerator, is an urgent research task. The comparative characteristics of the accelerator operation when using power sources based on capacitive storages and spiral-type explosive magnetic generators with a current pulse generation device are presented. A technique that allows working out the optimal operating modes of a pulsed plasma accelerator by conducting a series of preliminary experiments with high-voltage capacitive storages and calculations based on semiempirical models is described in order to proceed to explosive experiments with a generator in the future. The aim of this approach is to matched the output parameters of explosive magnetic generators with the dynamics of plasma motion in the accelerator. A series of laboratory experiments on the efficient transfer of energy from explosive magnetic generators to a pulsed plasma accelerator at current levels in the plasma load of over $3.5$ MA is presented.