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Deals with measurements of temporal and spatial characteristics of electrohydrodynamic instabilities. Behavior of unstable surface perturbations which arises when an electric field is applied normal to the surface of a liquid; Dependence of the wavelength of the dominant mode and the initial temporal behavior of the electrohydrodynamically driven instability.

Studies the nonlinear behavior of liquid surface in electric field of liquid lithium ion source. Development of ion source for inertial confinement fusion; Linear theory for surface waves; Discussion on the results of the study.

Investigates the possibility of forming large-area liquid-metal ion sources by examining the behavior of a planar liquid-conducting surface in the presence of a high electric field. Application of electrohydrodynamic instability theory to a planar liquid-lithium surface; Equations of motion and boundary conditions for a planar liquid metal in an electric Distorted surface structure caused by unstable growth in high electric field.

Analysis of the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) equations of motion ora planar liquid-lithium surface in the presence of a normal electric field suggest that liquid lithium may provide a largearea ion source for intense ion-beam diodes. Such sources are being developed for the Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator II at Sandia National Laboratories. In this paper, theoretical and experimental studies of the planar EHD ion source will be reviewed. When a planar liquid surface is subjected to an electric field of sufficient magnitude, EHD instabilities produce an array of cusps on the surface. The electric field enhancement at the apex of each cusp is sufficient to permit field evaporation of ions. The time delay between application of the electric field and ion emission depends on the magnitude and rate of increase of the applied electric field, and on the initial amplitude of the surface perturbation. Above 10 MV/cm, theory indicates that field emission will occur on a nanosecond time scale and that the characteristic sparing of emitters will be < 1 µm. At these fields, the source should have an intrinsic divergence of < 6 mrad and the effects of space charge from neighboring emitters should not inhibit emission significantly. Experimental measurements of wavelengths and cusp-formation-times for water and ethanol at electric fields near the critical field for instability have agreed well with theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]