Studying the Generation Stage of a Plasma Jet in a Plasma Focus Discharge

A dense compact plasmoid generated at the pinch collapse stage is revealed in a plasma focus discharge by laser optical methods. The initial size of the plasmoid is ~1 mm, its electron density is more than 2 × 10¹⁹ cm^–3, and the plasmoid propagates along the axis from the anode at an average velocity of more than 10⁷ cm/s. A shock wave is generated in the residual argon plasma during the motion of the bunch, its density decreases to 10¹⁸ cm^–3 at a distance of 3 cm from its place of generation, and the plasmoid expands by 3–5 times and almost merges together with the leading edge of the shock wave.