Coast Guard Academy Plasma Lab (CGAPL) and Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) Plasma Diagnostics Measurement Investigations

Together CGAPL, NRL, U.S. Naval Academy, ODU and AFIT have CGAPL and AFIT collaborate in plasma diagnostic development for both low and high-temperature plasmas. The small Helicon Plasma Experiment (HPX) at the Coast Guard Academy Plasma Lab (CGAPL), continues to progress toward utilizing the reputed high densities (10¹³ cm^-3 and higher) at low pressure (.01 T) of helicons, for eventual high temperature and density diagnostic development in future laboratory investigations. Our 2.5 J YAG laser Thomson Scattering system utilizes a high-performance volume-phase-holographic (VPH) grating spectrometer, charge-coupled device (CCD) camera, and a General Atomics polychromator optimized for TS measurements of 5 eV < T_e < 2000 eV over a 109-degree scattering angle. An Impedance Probe built from technology in the ‘Space PlasmA Diagnostic suitE’ (SPADE) mission is due to launch onboard the SeaLion 3U CubeSat mission with multiple payloads is also in final testing. The AC impedance measurements are collected as raw data using a sweeping frequency through surface-mounted antennas. While the compact multispectral ‘Pixel Sensor’ with a 450 nm - 1000 nm spectral range plus the motion and position sensor data are bundled and transmitted through the CubeSat bus. Preliminary observations from these diagnostics will be reported.