Possibility of obtaining hot plasma during the breakdown of high-pressure gases in strong magnetic fields

The hot plasma production during the high-pressure gas breakdown in the strong magnetic fields with a magnetic strength H of up 16·10⁶ A/m was considered experimentally. The breakdown occured in a short gap as a result of interaction of the monoenergetic electron beam (n_e ∼ 10¹⁸ m⁻³, energy is about several keVs) with dense plasma (n ∼ 6 · 10²² m⁻³). The breakdown leads to the formation of the magnetic trap (magnetic mirror), and the discharge plasma becomes heated due to the electron beam, electron cyclotron resonance, and Joule heating processes. The studies have shown that the use of the strong longitudinal magnetic fields results in an increase in the specific power, conductivity, and plasma temperature. (paper)