Abstract
A review is given of the experimental investigations concerning the critical velocity of the interaction between a neutral gas and a plasma in relative motion. In most of the experiments this critical velocity is equivalent to a voltage limitation of a discharge through a partially ionized magnetized plasma. The critical velocity phenomenon can have been of importance in a large number of experiments but it has been observed in rather few cases and studied in detail in less than half a dozen plasma machines. The major investigations were made in rotating plasma devices like the Homopolar, plasma guns and a plasma-neutral gas impact experiment. The emphasis of this paper is concentrated, though not limited, to collision-free plasmas. Thus the (MPD-)arc experiments are not extensively treated. It is concluded that the existence, under certain conditions, of a critical velocity, critical voltage or criticalE/B (depending on the particular observation) is proved by sufficient experimental evidence.
In a following article in this issue by J. Sherman the theoretical work in the same field is discussed.
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Danielsson, L. Review of the critical velocity of gas-plasma interaction. Astrophys Space Sci 24, 459–485 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02637168
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02637168