Production and characterization of transient heat and particle pulses in Pilot-PSI

In this paper we report on the generation of high transient heat and particle fluxes in Pilot-PSI. A capacitor bank (8400 mu F, 37.8 kJ) is coupled to the plasma source to superimpose the pulsed plasma on the top of steady-state plasma beam. Discharge currents up to 11.6 kA were reached corresponding to an input power in the source of 4.5 MW. By varying the discharge current and the gas flow, electron density and temperature during the pulse were varied in the range 40-120 x 10(20) m(-3), and 2-6 eV, respectively. The current rise time is about 300-500 mu s while the pulse duration is 1-1.5 ms. Thermal response of a tungsten target was monitored by fast infrared camera. The temperature rise time is about 0.5 ms and the heat flux to the target was up to 1 GW/m(2). (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.