Experiments on two-step heating of a dense plasma in the GOL-3 facility

This paper presents the results of experiments on two-stage heating of a dense plasma by a relativistic electron beam in the GOL-3 facility. A dense plasma with a length of about a meter and a hydrogen density up to 10(17) cm(-3) was created in the main plasma, whose density was 10(15) cm(-3). In the process of interacting with the plasma, the electron beam (1 MeV, 40 kA, 4 mu s) imparts its energy to the electrons of the main plasma through collective effects. The heated electrons, as they disperse along the magnetic field lines, in turn reach the region of dense plasma and impart their energy to it by pairwise collisions. Estimates based on experimental data are given for the parameters of the flux of hot plasma electrons, the energy released in the dense plasma, and the energy balance of the beam-plasma system. The paper discusses the dynamics of the plasma, which is inhomogeneous in density and temperature, including the appearance of pressure waves. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-7761(98)01003-8].