Single Jet Studies on the Plasma Liner Experiment

The Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) will generate imploding plasma liners via an array of high-Mach-number (M) plasma jets. Initial experiments examine the evolution of an argon plasma jet with velocity $\sim $50-70 km/s, number density $\sim $10$^{16-17}$ cm$^{-3}$, M $>$10, cross sectional radius $\sim $2.5 cm. Single-jet physics issues include jet expansion/stability, cooling, and atomic physics effects. Photodiode data determine the jet velocity. Intensified gated imaging details the jet geometry, expansion, and stability. A gated broad-band visible light spectrometer provides information on the plasma temperature and ionization state and will inform the design of a high-resolution spectrometer for future experiments. Finally, a multi-chord interferometer provides temporally resolved line-integrated density data and potentially Abel-inverted jet radial density profiles. A collaborative modeling effort is underway to generate simulated data based on experimental jet parameters and diagnostic configurations. Experimental data and comparisons with simulated data are presented.