Formation of the compression zone in a plasma flow generated by a magnetoplasma compressor

Processes occurring in a plasma flow generated by a magnetoplasma compressor (MPC) during the formation of the compression zone are discussed. The paper presents results of measurements of the spatial distribution of the electric current in the plasma flow, the temporal and spatial (along the flow) distributions of the plasma density, and the profiles of the velocity of individual flow layers along the system axis. The spatial distribution of the electromagnetic force in the flow is analyzed. It is shown that the plasma flow is decelerated when approaching the compression zone and reaccelerated after passing it. In this case, the plasma flow velocity decreases from ν = (2–3) × 10⁷ cm/s at the MPC output to ν < 10⁶ cm/s in the region of maximum compression and then again increases to 10⁷ cm/s at a distance of 15–17 cm from the MPC output. In some MPC operating modes, a displacement of the magnetic field from the compression zone and the formation of toroidal electric current vortices in the plasma flow after passing the compression zone were detected.     

The Action of Serotonin on Calcium-45 Efflux from the Anterior Byssal Retractor Muscle of Mytilus edulis

⁴⁵Ca efflux was studied in resting anterior byssal retractor muscle. The data are described by a three-compartment system. The most rapidly exchanging compartment, with an average time constant of 7 min, contains about 0.9 mM Ca/liter muscle, and probably represents extracellular space. A second compartment, with a time constant of 83 ± 5 min, contains 1.2 mM Ca/liter, and may represent a membrane calcium store. The presence of a third, or more, compartments, probably representing sarcoplasmic reticulum and contractile proteins, is indicated by the fact that the final time constant is 10 times the 83 min time constant of the second compartment. Serotonin (5HT), on initial application, increases ⁴⁵Ca efflux from this third compartment(s). This effect has a typical dose-response relationship with a maximum response appearing at 10^-7 M5HT. In addition, removal of 5HT causes a secondary increase in ⁴⁵Ca efflux which has a maximum at a 5HT concentration of 10^-7 M and declines at both higher and lower doses.     

Effect of inactive impurities on the burning of ICF targets

The efficiency of thermonuclear burning of the spherical deuterium-tritium (DT) plasma of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets in the presence of low-Z impurities (such as lithium, carbon, or beryllium) with arbitrary concentrations is investigated. The effect of impurities produced due to the mixing of the thermonuclear fuel with the material of the structural elements of the target during its compression on the process of target burning is studied, and the possibility of using solid noncryogenic thermonuclear fuels in ICF targets is analyzed. Analytical dependences of the ignition energy and target thermonuclear gain on the impurity concentration are obtained. The models are constructed for homogeneous and inhomogeneous plasmas for the case in which the burning is initiated in the central heated region of the target and then propagates into the surrounding relatively cold fuel. Two possible configurations of an inhomogeneous plasma, namely, an isobaric configuration formed in the case of spark ignition of the target and an isochoric configuration formed in the case of fast ignition, are considered. The results of numerical simulations of the burning of the DT plasma of ICF targets in a wide range of impurity concentrations are presented. The simulations were performed using the TEPA one-dimensional code, in which the thermonuclear burning kinetics is calculated by the Monte Carlo method. It is shown that the strongest negative effect related to the presence of impurities is an increase in the energy of target ignition. It is substantiated that the most promising solid noncryogenic fuel is DT hydride of beryllium (BeDT). The requirements to the plasma parameters at which BeDT can be used as a fuel in noncryogenic ICF targets are determined. Variants of using noncryogenic targets with a solid thermonuclear fuel are proposed.     

Interferometric measurements of the plasma density at the Z-pinch periphery in the angara-5-1 facility

Knowledge of spatial mass distribution is important for understanding the physics of implosion of megaampere-current wire arrays. The paper presents results from studying the electron density distribution at the periphery of a tungsten wire array near the instant of maximum compression by using laser interferometry at λ=0.69 µm. It is found that, at the instant of maximum compression (～100 ns after the beginning of the discharge), the estimated maximum local electron density inside the wire array reaches ～10¹⁸ cm^?3 at a distance of 0.3–3 mm from the initial wire positions. Assuming the average tungsten ion charge to be 10, the local linear mass density in this region turns out to be 3 µg/cm, which amounts to about 10% of the total linear mass density of the liner. A fraction of the generator current flows through this plasma. The duration of the soft X-ray pulse is 5–8 ns, which indicates the achievement of a fairly high compression ratio.     

Study of a cumulative jet in a plasma focus discharge by the method of shearing interferometry

The dynamics of the cumulative jet formed in the course of plasma compression in a plasma focus discharge is investigated by the method of differential optical interferometry. The jet propagation velocity is found to be V = (2.3?C3) × 10⁷ cm/s, which coincides with the results of calculations performed in a 2D ideal MHD model. Ejection of matter from the anode in the late stage of the discharge due to the interaction of the cumulative jet and the electron beam with the anode surface is observed.     

Real-time measurements of quartz erosion in experiments modeling heat loads on divertor plates during disruption in tokamaks

Time-resolved measurements of quartz erosion are carried out to determine the density of the energy flux incident onto the sample surface. These data are needed to create a reliable code describing the interaction of a thermonuclear plasma with a solid surface. Experiments were performed in the 2MK-200 facilityunder the program of modeling heat loads on divertor plates during disruptions in tokamaks. A 10-mm-thick plate of fused quartz was exposed to a high-temperature deuterium-plasma stream with the temperature T _i +T _e ≤1 keV, density (5–10)×10¹⁵ cm⁻³ β=0.25, energy density up to 200 J/cm², and power density ∼10 MW/cm². It is shown that the quartz erosion begins almost immediately after the stream reaches the surface. The eroded material shields the quartz surface from further destruction. Under the given experimental conditions, the integral shielding factor (the ratio of the stream energy to the energy reaching the surface) was rather high (about seventeen). As a result, at a stream energy density of ∼150 J/cm², the total erosion depth was about 0.75 μm over 35 μs. Based on the measured time dependence of the erosion depth and the reference data on the thermal conductivity of the fused quartz, the power density incident onto the quartz sample was numerically calculated. __________ Translated from Fizika Plazmy, Vol. 27, No. 3, 2001, pp. 243–250. Original Russian Text Copyright ? 2001 by Arkhipov, Bakhtin, Vasenin, Zhitlukhin, Safronov, Toporkov.     

Ethylene in relation to compression wood formation in Abies balsamea shoots

 The terminal (1-year-old) shoot of dormant, 2-year-old balsam fir [Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.] seedlings was either left vertically oriented or tilted to an angle of 60° from the vertical (tilting experiment), or was ringed with N-1-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA), an inhibitor of indole-3-acetic acid transport, at a concentration of 0, 1 or 10 mg g⁻¹ lanolin (NPA experiment). After 6 weeks of growth, ethylene evolution from the cambial region was measured by gas chromatography – flame ionization detection, and tracheid production and compression wood formation were determined by microscopy. In vertical seedlings of the tilting experiment and in 0 mg g⁻¹-treated seedlings of the NPA experiment, compression wood was not formed and neither ethylene evolution nor tracheid production varied longitudinally or circumferentially within the stem. Tilting induced compression wood formation and increased ethylene evolution and tracheid production on the lower side of the stem, while decreasing tracheid production on the upper side. Compression wood formation was induced and tracheid production and ethylene evolution were stimulated at and above the point where 1 or 10 mg NPA g⁻¹ was applied, whereas below this point compression wood was not formed and tracheid production was inhibited. In both tilting and NPA experiments, there was a positive correlation between ethylene evolution and tracheid production when data from all seedlings were analyzed, but not when data from seedlings forming compression wood were excluded. The results indicate that cambial region ethylene evolution is enhanced when compression wood is being formed, and that the enhancement is related to compression wood formation per se rather than the associated increase in tracheid production. Received: 19 February 1998 / Accepted: 26 October 1998     

Three-dimensional simulations of anomalous absorption of laser radiation by plasma with supercritical density

A three-dimensional (3D) model of the interaction of laser radiation with plasma in the framework of Maxwell-Vlasov equations has been used to calculate the anomalous optical absorption in plasma of supercritical density. The results of calculations confirmed the development of anomalous absorption that was previously revealed by 2D models, which were insufficient for comparison to the experiment. Calculations were performed for a system containing about 10⁶ macroparticles that allowed the absorption coefficient and other characteristics of anomalous absorption in plasma with an inhomogeneous surface to be determined as functions of various parameters of the incident radiation and plasma target. Results are analyzed and estimations are obtained for the contributions of ionization processes and pair collisions of electrons, which show that these factors were quite reasonably ignored in the model. All quantitative results are obtained for the third harmonic of neodymium laser (λ = 0.351 μm) at a tenfold excess of the substance density over a critical value for this radiation.     

Potassium transport in human erythrocytes: evidence for a three compartment system

Whole human blood is incubated for periods of ½ to 3 hours with K⁴² at 37°C. At the close of this period, called pre-incubation, the plasma is removed from the cells and the cells, now become radioactive, are again incubated in a mixture of plasma and buffer for periods of up to 10 additional hours. The time course of the K⁴² activity of the incubating medium is followed. Characteristically, after 2 hours of pre-incubation, the activity in the medium rises to a peak about 1 and ½ hours after resuspension, and then falls slowly until at 10 hours it is very close to its initial value at the beginning of the resuspension interval. This transient rise in K⁴² activity in the medium is taken to indicate that the red cell does not consist of a single uniform K compartment, but contains at least two compartments. Thus one cellular compartment contains a reservoir of high specific activity K which provides the specific activity gradient necessary to drive the K⁴² content of the medium to its transient peak. Experiments with Na indicate that its behavior in this respect is unlike that of K. The experimental data are matched to a simple model system which is capable of theoretical analysis with the aid of an analogue computer. The model system, whose characteristics agree fairly well with those observed experimentally on red cell suspensions, comprises two intracellular compartments, one containing 2.35 m.eq. K/liter blood, and the other 44.1 m.eq. K/liter blood. The plasma K content is 2.64 m.eq./liter blood. The flux between plasma and the smaller intracellular compartment is 0.65 m.eq. K/liter blood hour; that between the smaller and the larger intracellular compartment, 1.77 m.eq. K/liter blood hour; and that between the larger intracellular compartment and the plasma is 0.34 m.eq. K/liter blood hour.     

Generation of uniform low-temperature plasma in a pulsed non-self-sustained glow discharge with a large-area hollow cathode

Generation of plasma in a pulsed non-self-sustained glow discharge with a hollow cathode with an area of ≥2 m² at gas pressures of 0.4–1 Pa was studied experimentally. At an auxiliary arc-discharge current of 100 A and a main discharge voltage of 240 V, a pulse-periodic glow discharge with a current amplitude of 370 A, pulse duration of 340 μs, and repetition rate of 1 kHz was obtained. The possibility of creating a uniform gas-discharge plasma with a density of up to 10¹² cm^?3 and an electron temperature of 1 eV in a volume of >0.2 m³ was demonstrated. Such plasma can be efficiently used to treat material surfaces and generate pulsed ion beams with a current density of up to 15 mA/cm².     

RATE AND TIME OF DNA SYNTHESIS OF INDIVIDUAL CHINESE HAMSTER CELLS

The duration of DNA synthesis of a diploid cell line of Chinese hamster fibroblasts was determined in a comparative study by the FLM technique, and also by a new technique for measuring the rate of DNA synthesis of individual cells. These methods produced comparable results when applied during exponential growth of the cells. The rate of DNA synthesis was measured by means of quantitative autoradiography following a short-term incubation of the cells with 5 × 10^-6 M FUdR and 10^-5 M ¹⁴C-TdR. The choice of the medium for this purpose did not seem to be critical. The autoradiographic silver grains over cells and ¹⁴C-standard sources are counted by microphotometry using incident light bright-field. The direct measurements of DNA synthesis rate are ‘compartment’ statistics which have been converted into ‘flux’ parameters for comparison with the FLM method and applicability in cell-kinetic calculations. Frequency distributions of the rate of DNA synthesis of individual cells thus obtained may resemble normal distributions quite closely. They result from several factors: differences in the rate of synthesis in different parts of the S-phase, the density distribution of cells within the S-phase, the variation in the time of DNA synthesis among individual cells, and the experimental error. In the case of a pronounced partial synchronization as probably has been present in one experiment performed in the lag phase, an incorrect time of DNA synthesis may result from the rate values. Due to the variation in DNA synthesis rate in different parts of the S-phase it is not possible to determine the duration of DNA synthesis of an individual cell. However, the mean values of DNA synthesis time are reliable. The new method will be preferentially applied for determining the duration of DNA synthesis of human cells in as far as difficulties are encountered with the classical methods. In addition, it may be used to advantage for studying cells which make up low percentages in mixed populations. It finally permits a safer morphological classification of the cells under study than is possible with the classical methods.     

Orthophosphate influx and efflux rates of Chlorella fusca measured in a continuous turbidostat culture with 32P under various conditions

The main objective of the experiments with Chlorella fusca strain 211-8b was to measure, with adequate time resolution, the unidirectional influx rates of phosphate into non-phosphate-starved algae under different steady state conditions (light, temperature, 3-phosphoglycerate influence) or following the addition of several photosynthesis and phosphate transport inhibitors (phenylmercuric acetate, p-chloromercuribenzoate, arsenate). the algae were cultivated in a phosphate rich medium in a continuous turbidostat culture. The phosphate exchange experiments with carrier-free ³²PO ₄ ^3- were performed directly in the continuous culture. The sampling intervals after the tracer addition were 15 s.For a continuous steady state culture grown in the light (25° C) the unidirectional influx rate measured with ³²P is 260 times higher than the net uptake rate (=influx minus efflux rate) calculated from the mass balance using the data of this culture. In all experiments, except the control experiment with trichloroacetic acid killed cells, the specific activity of the intracellular inorganic orthophosphate compartment oscillates around a constant mean value which never reaches the specific activity of the nutrient medium within the duration of the short-term experiments (7.5 min). The inhibitors strongly affect the characteristics of the oscillations. The unidirectional influx rates are constant. Oscillating flushing rates with unlabelled phosphate from a storage compartment have been postulates to explain the oscillations. Oscillating rates from the individual cells are apparently synchronized by an unknown mechanism.     

Rats avoid exposure to HVdc electric fields: A dose response study

Rats, given the choice, avoid exposure to alternating current (ac) 60-Hz electric fields at intensities ? 75 kV/m. This study investigated the generality of this behavior by studying the response of rats when exposed to high voltage direct current (HV dc) electric fields. Three hundred eighty male Long Evans rats were studied in 9 experiments with 40 rats per experiment and in one experiment with 20 rats to determine 1) if rats avoid exposure to HVdc electric fields of varying field strengths, and 2) if avoidance did occur, what role, if any, the concentration of air ions would have on the avoidance behavior. In all experiments a three-compartment glass shuttlebox was used; either the left or right compartment could be exposed to a combination of HVdc electric fields and air ions while the other compartment remained sham-exposed. The third, center compartment was a transition zone between exposure and sham-exposure. In each experiment, the rats were individually assessed in 1-h sessions where half of the rats (n = 20) had the choice to locomote between the two sides being exposed or sham-exposed, while the other half of the rats'(n = 20) were sham-exposed regardless of their location, except in one experiment where there was no sham-exposed group. The exposure levels for the first six experiments were 80, 55, 42.5, 30, ?36, and ?55 kV/m, respectively. The air ion concentration was constant at 1.4 × 10⁶ ions/cc for the four positive exposure levels and ?1.4 × 10⁶ ions/cc for the two negative exposure levels. Rats having a choice between exposure and non-exposure relative to always sham-exposed control animals significantly reduced the amount of time spent on the exposed side at 80kV/m (P < .002) as they did at both 55 and ?55 kV/m (P < .005). No significant differences between groups were observed at 42.5, 30, or -36 kV/m. To determine what role the air ion concentration might have had on the avoidance behavior at field strengths of 55 kV/m or greater, four additional experiments were conducted. The HVdc exposure level was held constant at either ?55 kV/m (for three experiments) or -55 kV/m (for 1 experiment) while the air ion concentration was varied between experiments at 2.5 × 10⁵ ions/cc, 1.0 × 10⁴ for two of the experiments and was below the measurement limit (< ± 2 × 10³ ions/cc) for the other two experiments at 55 and ?55 kV/m. The exposed rats significantly reduced the amount of time spent on the exposed side at 55 and ?55 kV/m, relative to the sham-exposed rats regardless of air ion concentration (all at P < .005). Thus, HVdc electric fields of ? + or ?55 kV/m are sufficient to produce avoidance behavior in rats. Positive or negative air ion concentrations were not significant factors in these avoidance outcomes. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Generation and interaction of intense counterpropagating plasma flows

Results are presented from experimental studies of the parameters of two counterpropagating (colliding) plasma flows generated by discharges in crossed electric and magnetic fields. It is shown that the conversion efficiency of the energy deposited in the discharges into the energy of directed plasma flows is 0.3–0.6. For discharge current pulses with a duration of ∼10 μs, the energy flux density in the plasma flow reaches ∼10 J/cm² and the total energy of the flow is on the order of 300 J. The density of deuterons in the flows is ∼10¹⁵ cm⁻³, and the flow velocity is ≤2×10⁷ cm/s. The total number of particles carried by the flows is about 10¹⁹. The possibility of using counterpropagating plasma flows to study reactions involving light nuclei (dd, pd, dt, and dHe reactions) in the range of ultralow collision energies is discussed. __________ Translated from Fizika Plazmy, Vol. 29, No. 8, 2003, pp. 714–721. Original Russian Text Copyright ? 2003 by Dudkin, Nechaev, Padalko, Bystritsky, Stolupin, Bystritskii, Voznyak.     

High-Power X-Ray Line Radiation of the Plasma Produced in a Collision of High-Energy Plasma Flows

Results are presented from experimental studies of a pulsed source of soft X-ray (SXR) emission with photon energies in the range of 0.4–1 keV and an output energy of 2–10 kJ. SXR pulses with a duration of 10–15 μs were generated in collisions of two plasma flows propagating toward one another in a longitudinal magnetic field. The plasma flows with velocities of (2–4) × 10⁷ cm/s and energy contents of 70–100 kJ were produced by two electrodynamic coaxial accelerators with pulsed gas injection. Nitrogen and neon, as well as their mixtures with deuterium, were used as working gases. The diagnostic equipment is described, and the experimental results obtained under different operating conditions are discussed. In particular, X-ray spectroscopy was used to study the high-temperature plasma produced in a collision of two plasma flows. The observed intensities of spectral lines are compared with the results of detailed kinetic calculations performed in a steady-state approximation. The calculations of the nitrogen and neon kinetics have shown that the electron temperature of a nitrogen plasma can be most conveniently determined from the intensity ratio of the resonance lines of He- and H-like nitrogen ions, while that of a neon plasma, from the intensity ratio between the resonance line of He-like Ne IX ions and the 3p?2s line of Li-like Ne VIII ions. In the experiments with plasma flows containing nitrogen ions, the electron temperature was found to be ≈120 eV, whereas in the experiments with plasma flows containing neon ions, it was 160–170 eV.     

The effects of exogenous ABA applied to maize (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Zea mays</Emphasis> L.) roots on plant responses to chilling stress

This work aimed to discuss the effects of exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) on the root growth regulation of maize seedlings under chilling stress. The roots of the maize cultivar Zhengdan 958 were irrigated with ABA (10^?7, 10^?6, 10^?5 and 10^?4 M) at the third true leaf stage under chilling duration (0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 days). The biomass, the phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzyme activities, total phenolic and flavonoid contents, the ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) antioxidant capacity, and 2,2-azinobis (3-ethlbenzothiazo-line-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt radical (ABTS^·+) scavenging capacity of the roots of maize seedlings were measured after the treatment. The results showed that appropriate concentrations of exogenous ABA effectively enhanced root biomass, increased PAL and PPO enzyme activities, and significantly increased total phenolic contents and flavonoid contents. Moreover, the ABA markedly improved the FRAP antioxidant capacity and ABTS^·+ scavenging capacity under low-temperature stress. These results indicate that ABA-treated maize seedlings are resistant to chilling stress and that the optimum concentration of ABA is 10^?5 M. Exogenous applications of ABA have a concentration effect in alleviating chilling stress, in which low concentrations have a promoting effect and high concentrations have an inhibiting effect.     

Fast ignition of inertial confinement fusion targets

Results of studies on fast ignition of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets are reviewed. The aspects of the fast ignition concept, which consists in the separation of the processes of target ignition and compression due to the synchronized action of different energy drivers, are considered. Criteria for the compression ratio and heating rate of a fast ignition target, the energy balance, and the thermonuclear gain are discussed. The results of experimental and theoretical studies of the heating of a compressed target by various types of igniting drivers, namely, beams of fast electrons and light ions produced under the action of a petawatt laser pulse on the target, a heavy-ion beam generated in the accelerator, an X-ray pulse, and a hydrodynamic flow of laser-accelerated matter, are analyzed. Requirements to the igniting-driver parameters that depend on the fast ignition criteria under the conditions of specific target heating mechanisms, as well as possibilities of practical implementation of these requirements, are discussed. The experimental programs of various laboratories and the prospects of practical implementation of fast ignition of ICF targets are reviewed. To date, fast ignition is the most promising method for decreasing the ignition energy and increasing the thermonuclear gain of an ICF plasma. A large number of publications have been devoted to investigations of this method and adjacent problems of the physics of igniting drivers and their interaction with plasma. This review presents results of only some of these studies that, in the author’s opinion, allow one to discuss in detail the main physical aspects of the fast ignition concept and understand the current state and prospects of studies in this direction.