Some issues of the operation of plasma opening switches

Abstract

The paper analyzes some processes in a plasma opening switch with a conduction time of ~ 100 ns. Relations are derived for assessing the evolution of the ion current to its space charge-limited state and for estimating its maximum possible density. It is shown that the ion current density reaches its extremum before electron magnetization. Estimates for the electromagnetic energy delivered to the switch are also presented demonstrating that this energy is spent equally for creating a magnetic field in the plasma volume and for its ohmic heating.