Plasma Production on Current-Carrying Electrodes of the Angara-5-1 Facility

Experiments on studying the effect of pulsed superhigh currents and soft X-ray emission (SXR) on the plasma production on the surface of current-carrying electrodes are carried out at the Angara-5-1 facility. The linear current density was about 1 MA/cm, and the SXR power flux density reached ~0.8 TW/cm 2 in the spectral range of 50–500 eV. The current rise time to the maximum was ~100 ns. It is shown that under the conditions of our loads, plasma formed during ablation of the material from the surface of the electrodes moves symmetrically towards the middle of the interelectrode gap at a speed of up to 90–95 km/s. It is found that the effect of pulsed superhigh currents and SXR emission on the plasma production on metal electrodes with a layer of organic matter leads to earlier production of plasma from organic matter and, accordingly, to faster (at higher rates) filling of the interelectrode gap with this plasma. Under intense irradiation with soft X‑ray emission, the plasma from the electrodes expands at a speed of up to 150 km/s.