Compression of a plasma column of infinite electroconductivity situated in an external axial magnetic field

Abstract

The effect of an external axial magnetic field on a selfcompressed plasma has been studied. Firstly, a set of equations describing the actual physical situation is derived by means of the generalized model described in [8]. Secondly, the results of a numerical calculation using a double spacestep and varying timestep in the Lax-Wendroff scheme are analysed. The effect of the external magnetic field on plasma parameters such as : plasma velocity, ion temperature, electron temperature and plasma density is analysed. The experimental results [1] are compared with theory and are found to be in good agreement especially for the later times of the compression stage. At one stage, the plasma column radius is greater than the corresponding one for the case with no magnetic field. All the calculations are performed for a deuterium gas compression