Enhancement of the separation factor in a vacuum arc centrifuge

A vacuum arc plasma centrifuge is a device in which a full ionised plasma column rotates at high angular velocities due to the J x B forces. This paper describes a series of experiments carried out in the plasma centrifuge, in operation at LAP/INPE, in order to investigate the possibility of increasing the separation factor parameter of the process. More specifically, the plasma column rotation and temperature were chosen as control parameters to study the influence of introduction of inert gas (argon and hydrogen) in the vacuum arc discharge, the anode grid geometry and the radial component of the magnetic field in the electrode region, since the separation factor is proportional to exp (ω2/T). (author)