Reflexionsversuche mit elektromagnetisch erzeugten Verdichtungsstößen hoher Mach-Zahlen

Abstract

In a 80 cm long quartz-tube of 33 mm diameter plasma is generated by theta-pinch mechanism with conical coil and accelerated in the direction along the axis of the tube. A luminous front is observed and its velocity has been studied in, in dependence of coil distance and initial pressure.

In Helium in a pressure range from 0·3 to 5 Torr it has been found by reflection experiments that before the luminous front a discontinuity in the pressure is moving ahead of the luminous front. The distanceΔx between this discontinuity and luminous front increases with increasing distance from the coil and with increasing initial pressure for instance up to 10 cm at a distance of about 50 cm and an initial pressure of 5 Torr. The results are compared to theoretical considerations.