Plasma Opening Switch Using Plasmas Produced by a Pulsed CO2 Laser

Plasma opening switches were studied using laser-produced plasmas. In this paper, a CO 2 laser (5 J/pulse, 5.5 MW peak power and 10.6 µm wavelength) was used as the plasma source of a plasma opening switch (POS). The plasma parameters were measured using a Faraday cup, a Langmuir probe and a monochromator. It was found that ions with fast flow velocity are required to obtain a short opening time, and thermalized plasma with low velocity lengthens the opening time. However, POS operation was improved by switch modification despite the existence of thermalized plasmas.