Abstract
The equilibrium and stability of a high-current discharge have been theoretically investigated in a dense optically gray plasma. The plasma is assumed to be completely opaque to longwave photons and completely transparent to short-wave photons. The threshold frequency is determined by setting the diameter of the plasma pinch equal to the mean free path of the photons. We solve the equations of magnetohydrodynamics together with the equation of radiative transfer. We show that in a gray plasma an equilibrium state can exist with a practically homogeneous temperature distribution over the discharge cross section. Temperature homogeneity is ensured by the large radiant thermal conductivity, which is related to the longwave radiation. The radiant thermal conductivity also causes the discharge to be stable with respect to superheating. We analyze the possibility of using such a discharge for the energy pumping of a laser. We show that for discharge currents of order 106 A, the efficiency of a gray discharge exceeds the efficiency of an opaque discharge by a factor of three.
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Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 1, pp. 33–39, January–February, 1971.
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Aleksandrov, A.F., Kaminskaya, E.P. & Rukhadze, A.A. Equilibrium and stability of a cylindrical linear pinch with a homogeneous temperature distribution. J Appl Mech Tech Phys 12, 27–32 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00853978
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00853978