On Measuring the Ion Temperature of a Plasma Jet Undergoing Instability-Driven Heating at ERAU: Lessons Learned and Improvements Envisioned

Outlined are our arrangement and findings measuring the ion temperature of a plasma jet using Doppler-broadening spectroscopy. The jet, formed by puffing a controlled amount of Nitrogen gas into Embry-Riddle's cylindrical vacuum chamber and then ionizing it via high-voltage electronically switched capacitor banks, is regulated to undergo three different regimes of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) current-driven instabilities and one regime of magnetic reconnection, as well as terminally collided with an Argon gas cloud. Ion temperature measurement of plasma is inferred by spectroscopic analysis. To improve the fidelity of our spectroscopy, the presented method implements a unique assemblage of 54 optical fiber cables into a systematic two-dimensional array, broadening the area of observation. With this, we aim to develop our analysis of instability-induced ion heating and its contribution to collisional plasma heating, thus shedding light on the possibility of pre-heating the plasma during plasma compression.