| 摘要 |
1,059,080. Discharge apparatus; lasers. COMPAGNIE GENERALE D'ELECTRICITE. Oct. 27, 1964 [Oct. 28, 1963 (3); June 4, 1964], No. 43857/64. Headings HlC, H1D and H1X. A spark gap is triggered by a laser beam. The spark gap may have metal plates in the inter-electrode gap, may be open or enclosed, and may have a series load in the form of a gasfilled discharge tube. The beam effects triggering by heating one of the spark gap electrodes, or an additional " counter-electrode," forming a thermionically emissive body, or by ionizing the gas filling of an enclosed gap, or by destroying a dielectric placed between the electrodes. The laser may be placed inside one electrode which is apertured to provide access to the other electrode for the beam, or may be disposed to one side of or in line with the spark gap or a plurality of spark gaps which are triggered simultaneously, the plates, if present, and all but one electrode being apertured in the latter case to allow passage of the beam. A beam may be used to pre-ionize the gas filling of the discharge tube in addition to triggering the spark gap, or may be split into two beams for this purpose. The spark gap and discharge tube may be mounted in a common enclosure and the discharge tube surrounded by a coil to provide an apparatus for studying the behaviour of a magnetically constricted plasma. Fig. 24 shows such an apparatus in which the coil 309 is controlled by an external spark gap 351, 352 which is triggered in synchronism with spark gap 310, 311 by a beam 340 split by a prism 324 from the beam of a laser 320. The second split beam 350 pre-ionizes the discharge tube 316. Modifications of this apparatus are described (Figs. 18 to 23, not shown) incorporating the alternative triggering arrangements described above. The spark gap electrodes may be nested cups, or one spark gap electrode may be integral with one discharge tube electrode. |
