THE COLLISION OF TWO PLASMAS

TL;DRAbstract

Two coaxial guns inject hydrogen or deuterium plasmas into opposite ends of an evacuated drift space containing an axial magnetic field. With simultaneous firing of deuterium plasmas, the fast fronts of the plasmas ( approximates 10/sup 8/ cm/s) superimpose to produce an extended region of plasma in which the transverse energy density is approximately 2 J per cm length, the transverse ion temperature is approximates 3 kev, and the particle density is approximates 10/sup 14//cm/sup 3/. Following the fast plasma component, there is a slower component, observable by Coulomb scattering of the ions in one plasma by the ions in the other. The temperature is considerably smaller ( approximates 100 ev) than that of the fast component, but the density is high ( approximates 10/sup 16//cm/sup 3/) and the particles are presumably well randomized in direction. No evidence has been obtained for a two-stream instability in the plasma collision. Unexplained phenomena take place in the entry of the pl

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