Formation of Directed Plasma Jets During the Combustion of a High-Current Vacuum-Arc Discharge

The paper describes a method for generating aluminum and hydrogen plasma jets. It illustrates the formation mechanism of extended plasma structures produced during the combustion of a high-current vacuum-arc discharge. The current-carrying plasma front is shown to propagate at different velocities for aluminum plasma and hydrogen plasma. The hydrogen plasma has a substantially higher initial velocity (about 30 cm/µs) compared to the aluminum plasma (about 10 cm/µs). It is shown that the bulk velocity of the hydrogen plasma jet is about 9 cm/µs. It was proven by means of spectral diagnostics that the hydrogen plasma jet is indeed composed mainly of hydrogen.