Abstract

Plasma formation and dynamics from conical wire array is experimentally studied. Ablation from the wires is observed, forming plasma accumulation at the array axis and subsequently a jet outflow been expelled toward the top of the array. The arrays are composed by 16 equally spaced 25 mu m diameter tungsten wires. Their dimensions are 20mm height, with base diameters of 8mm and 16mm top diameter. The array loads are design to be overmassed, hence no complete ablation of the wires is observed during the current rise. The experiments have been carried out in the Llampudken. pulsed power generator (similar to 350kA in similar to 350ns). Plasma dynamics is studied in both side-on and end-on directions. Laser probing (shadowgraphy) is achieved using a frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser (532nm, 12ps FWHM) captured by CCD cameras. Pinhole XUV imaging is captured using gated microchannel plate cameras with time resolution similar to 5ns. Results on the jet velocity and the degree of collimation indicating the plausibility on the use of these jets as comparable to the study astrophysically produced jets are presented and discussed.