Mass separation of a multicomponent plasma flow in a curvilinear magnetic field

The motion of a metal plasma flow of a vacuum-arc discharge in a transportation plasma-optical system with a curvilinear magnetic field is studied experimentally and numerically. The flow position at the output of the system is shown to depend on the cathode material, which determines the mass-to-charge ratio of plasma ions. As a result, the flow with a greater ion mass-to-charge ratio moves along a trajectory with a larger radius. A similar effect is observed in the case of a multicomponent plasma flow generated by a composite cathode. The results of two-fluid MHD simulations of a plasma flow propagating in a curvilinear magnetic field agree qualitatively with the experimental data.