COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Laboratory Simulation of Lightning and Dusty Plasmas

（与EPS 00-80862合作）沙漠研究所（大气科学）科学家；内华达大学里诺分校（物理系，高能量密度科学组）和俄克拉何马大学气象学院将合作设计和建造一个系统，在实验室中模拟和研究在广泛的地球和地外条件下通过含有云和气溶胶粒子的大气中的放电。闪电，作为一种放电，发生在雷暴的大气层和上空，在火山爆发中，在其他行星的云层中，尤其是木星。该系统也将非常适合于研究某些生产和修改气溶胶（如钻石）的工业过程，以及保护航天器运载火箭和电力传输系统免受雷击的技术。它将具有高达一百万伏特的高电压能力，放电电流高达100,000安培，通过一个立方米的实验室云室，控制气体成分，压力，温度和相对湿度，并将能够充满挥发性物质的颗粒云，如水滴和冰晶，以及低挥发性的气溶胶，如某些矿物和碱卤化物。该电气系统将由马克思银行并联串联电容器和附加元件组成，具有控制电压、电流和电流上升和下降时间的能力。该腔室将携带适当的馈通和电极，用于直接放电和电感回路，以提供无电极环形放电。电流上升和下降的时间常数（分别在100纳秒和10微秒量级）将被控制，以直接模拟大气和其他过程。将使用条纹相机和门控光学探测器测量放电的形式和速度。将研究不同大小、形状和组成的微粒对微量气体组成变化的作用，并在选定的可见光、紫外线和x射线波长下进行发射率/吸收测量。该腔室将设计有内部传感器和适当的传输窗口，用于外部激光诊断。该系统的实用性将在第二年通过对通过冰和水云界面的主要排放尖端以及氮氧化物产生速率的初步研究来证明，这两者都是当前大气科学中的科学问题。

(In collaboration with EPS 00-80862)Scientists at the Desert Research Institute (Atmospheric Sciences); University of Nevada, Reno (Department of Physics, High Energy Density Science Group), and the School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma will collaborate to design and construct a system to simulate and study, in the laboratory, electrical discharges through atmospheres containing cloud and aerosol particles over a wide range of terrestrial and also extraterrestrial conditions. Lightning, as an electrical discharge, occurs through the atmosphere in and above thunderstorms, in volcanic eruptions and in clouds of other planets, notably Jupiter. The system will also be well suited to study certain industrial processes for producing and modifying aerosol (such as diamond) and the technology of protection from lightning strikes to spacecraft launch vehicles and electrical transmission systems. It will have a high voltage capability, up to one million volts, with a discharge current of up to 100,000 amps through a cubic meter laboratory cloud chamber with controlled gas composition, pressure, temperature and relative humidity and will be capable of being filled with particulate clouds of both volatile materials, such as water droplets and ice crystals, as well as aerosol of low volatility, such as certain minerals and alkali halides. The electrical system will consist of a Marx bank parallel - series arrangement of capacitors together with additional elements, with capability for control of voltage, current and current rise and fall time. The chamber will carry appropriate feed-throughs and electrodes for direct discharge and an inductive loop to give an electrode-less ring discharge. The time constants of current rise and fall (on the order of 100 nanoseconds and 10 microseconds, respectively) will be controlled to give direct simulation of atmospheric and other processes. Measurements will be made of the form and speed of the discharge using a streak camera and gated optical detectors. The role of particulates of different size, shape and composition as they relate to changes in trace gas composition will be investigated and emissivity/absorption measurements in selected visible, UV and x-ray wavelengths will also be performed. The chamber will be designed with internal sensors and appropriate transmission windows for external laser diagnostics. The utility of the system will be demonstrated in the second year through initial studies of the leading discharge tip through ice and water cloud interfaces and in the rate of NOx production, both of which are current scientific issues in atmospheric science.