Coast Guard Academy Plasma Lab (CGAPL) Space and Laboratory Diagnostics Measurement Investigations

Together CGAPL, the Navy Research Laboratory, U.S. Naval Academy, Old Dominion University and the Air Force Institute of Technology collaborate in plasma diagnostic development for both low and high-temperature plasmas. The small Helicon Plasma Experiment (HPX) at CGAPL, continues to progress toward utilizing the reputed high densities (10¹³cm^-3 and higher) at low pressure (.01T) of helicons, for eventual high temperature and density diagnostic development in future laboratory investigations. Our 2.5J YAG laser Thomson Scattering system is installed and under initial testing, alignment, and initial General Atomics polychromator integration optimized for TS measurements of 5eV< T_e < 2000eV over a 109-degree scattering angle. An Impedance Probe to measure in-situ plasma temperature and density is due to launch onboard the SeaLion 3U CubeSat mission with multiple payloads in final testing. AC impedance measurements are collected as raw data by a sweeping frequency through surface-mounted antennas. While the compact multispectral ‘Pixel Sensor’ with a 450nm-1000nm spectral range. SeaLion’s Coast Guard mission awareness domain experiment (CG-MADE) uses doppler positioning for eventual emergency communications in the Artic poles. Preliminary observations from these diagnostics will be reported.