Measurement on electron density of high-power and large-volume ICP-heated wind tunnel with HCN laser interferometer

This paper explains the physical behavior of the electron density of high-power and large-volume plasma wind tunnel using a single channel hydrogen cyanide (HCN) laser interferometer. Based on the characteristics of inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-heated wind tunnel, the temperature and pressure distribution of the ICP-heated wind tunnel are obtained from numerical simulations, during which the influence of neutral particles is considered to calculate the accurate electron density. The typical electron density order of ICP-heated wind tunnel is 10 18 m − 3. We discovered that there is a positive correlation between the electron density of argon plasma jet and mass flow rate, while that of air plasma jet decreases slightly. We also found that the peak of electron density appears when the argon is switched to air. Within the voltage range of 6–10 kV, the electron density of argon and air plasma increases slowly. However, when the voltage increases from 10 to 12 kV, the electron density of air plasma increases sharply with the mass flow rate of 15 g/s. Finally, the electron density of argon plasma is much higher than that of air plasma at the same mass flow rate and voltage.