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The development of optical quantum generators (lasers), with high frequency stability, narrow beam directivity and high power, opens new prospects for the study of plasmas. At the present time, lasers are widely used in interferometric measurements for determination of the spatial distribution of the electron concentration of plasmas. The theory has been rather well developed, and the first experimental investigations to appear in the area of the measurement of the density and temperature of a plasma using lasers are quite specific and promising; this book presents an attempt to generalize the principal theoretical results and experiences gained in experimental works. (Author), Trans. of mono. Issledovanie Plazmy s Pomoshchyu Lazerov, Moscow, 1968 n6.

Research on a traveling wave plasma accelerator for ultimate use as a high altitude, high velocity flow simulation device is reported. The research reported covers the design and final testing of an increasing phase velocity accelrator coil system and measurements of the performance of this system operating upon argon plasma at 1.6 torr static pressure and low supersonic Mach number. Impact and static pressure measurements indicate that the exit Mach number from the accelerator was increased from .7 without magnetic excitation to 1.5 with excitation at 128,000 ampere turns per meter (the power supply limit). Under these conditions the exit impact pressure increased from 2.8 to 4.8 torr, while the static pressure dropped from 2.0 to 1.6 torr. Design and testing of the high power accelerator coils using water cooled Litz cable is discussed, coils with quality factors (omega L/K) as high as 1200 being achieved. Water cooling ability of the coils was tested and a sample was successfully operated above the maximum design excitation of 600,000 ampere turns per meter. Minor developments of the RF plasma source are also discussed and a summary of a study of wave propagation in its nonequilibrium plasma is presented. (Author)

The book is concerned with the thermodynamics of high-temperature gases of various densities. The behavior in the low-density range in the presence of electric and electromagnetic fields is described by the method of phenomenological thermodynamics. In this case the state of the gaseous system is determined not only by the 'temperature' of statistical particle distributions, but also by the thermodynamic temperature. This method has made it possible to obtain a closed (complete) system of equations for determining the state of the gas and the statistical 'temperatures.' The methodology for evaluating the system of equations obtained is also presented in the book. The characteristic feature of the medium gas density range is the existence of thermodynamic equilibrium. In principle, the description of this region does not differ from the one usually used. The chapter dealing with calculations for gas of medium density is primarily methodological. (Author), Edited trans. of mono. Termodinamicheskii Raschet Vysokotemperaturnogo Gaza, Moscow, 1968 p1-115.

The paper covers theoretical research on the process of electrodynamic acceleration of plasmoids, taking into account the thermal inertia of mass liberation and losses of energy due to plasma heatup and electrode erosion. The results obtained permit estimating the thrust and energy coefficients of the conversion of electrical energy into plasma flow enery. (Author), Edited machine trans. of Samoletostroenie i Tekhnika Vozdushnogo Flota (USSR) n11 p35-41 1967.

The experiment was conducted to learn experimental techniques for studying Thomson Scattering at an angle of 90 degrees from a laboratory plasma. A successful method of canceling the plasma radiation was employed by using a Calcite Slab to separate the plasma radiation into two equal intensity beams which self canceled when put through a differential amplifier. Scattered light from the plasma was not observed due to the noise level of the photomultipliers and the reflections from the plasma chamber. (Author)

Temperatures in the range of 2500 to 5000K were measured in the seeded air and nitrogen plasmas produced with a 2 megawatt arc heater. Two specially designed spectra probes were used for these measurements. Mass seed rates of potassium carbonate ranged from 0 to 1.88% by weight of potassium and power levels ranged from 300 kw to 1000 kw. Temperatures determined from measured intensities of the continuous radiation and from atomic spectral lines of potassium were found in the seeded plasmas to agree satisfactorily with the static temperatures determined aerodynamically from an experimentally measured energy balance. Because of the strong dependence of intensity on temperature in the low range encountered, the observed intensity fluctuations in the jet resulted in less than a 10% change in temperature. Corrections of the seed lines for self-absorption brought the measured temperatures within 2% of those obtained from the continuum. The continuous radiation from unseeded air and nitrogen plasmas was measured to be about a factor of 15 higher than any existing theory predicts.