Experiments with Gradual-Energy-Growth Electron Beam at GOL-3

Abstract

The paper presents experimental data on plasma heating in a new regime of GOL-3 operation. Unlike previous experiments, the new regime features significant growth of energy of electrons in a relativistic electron beam during the beam pulse.

The new dynamics of beam energy during the shot changes dynamics of plasma heating. A pronounced feature of previous GOL-3 experiments on plasma heating in the corrugated magnetic field was early transition to the plasma cooling stage, which in some regimes occurred much earlier than the beam injection stopped. In the gradual-energy-growth regime, plasma heating continues for a longer period until the beam power decreases significantly. Some other features will also be discussed.

Experiments in the new regime allow us to partially verify feasibility of plasma heating with the electron beam at lowered beam parameters. This is important for the next planned step in GOL-3 program.