Interaction of supersonic molecular beam with low-temperature plasma*

Abstract

The interaction between the supersonic molecular beam (SMB) and the low-temperature plasma is a critical issue for the diagnosis and fueling in the Tokamak device. In this work, the interaction process between the argon SMB and the argon plasma is studied by a high-speed camera based on the Linear Experimental Advanced Device (LEAD) in Southwestern Institute of Physics, China. It is found that the high-density SMB can extinct the plasma temporarily and change the distribution of the plasma density significantly, while the low-density SMB can hardly affect the distribution of plasma density. This can be used as an effective diagnostic technique to study the evolution of plasma density in the interaction between the SMB and plasma. Moreover, the related simulation based on this experiment is carried out to better understand the evolution of electron density and ion density in the interaction. The simulation results can be used to analyze and explain the experimental results well.