Plasma window

The plasma window (also plasma shield,^[1]) is a technology that fills a volume of space with plasma confined by a magnetic field. With current technology, this volume is quite small and the plasma is generated as a flat plane inside a cylindrical space.

Plasma is any gas that has had all of its particles (atoms or molecules) ionized and is generally held to be a separate phase of matter. This is most commonly achieved by heating the gas to extremely high temperatures although other forms of plasma are also possible. Plasma becomes increasingly viscous (thick) at higher temperatures, to the point where other matter has trouble passing through.

A plasma window's viscosity allows it to separate air at standard atmospheric pressure from a total vacuum. At the same time, the plasma window will allow radiation such as lasers and electron beams to pass. This property is the key to the plasma window's usefulness — the technology of the plasma window permits for radiation that can only be generated in a vacuum to be applied to objects in an atmosphere.

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History

The Plasma Window was invented at Brookhaven National Laboratory by Ady Hershcovitch and patented in 1995. [2]

Further inventions using this principle include the Plasma Valve in 1996. [3]

Plasma Valve

A related technology is the plasma valve, invented shortly after the plasma window. A plasma valve is a layer of gas in the shell of a particle accelerator. The ring of a particle accelerator contains a vacuum, and ordinarily a breach of this vacuum is disastrous. If, however, an accelerator equipped with plasma valve technology breaches, the gas layer is ionized within a nanosecond, creating a seal that prevents the accelerator's decompression. This gives researchers time to shut off the particle beam in the accelerator and slowly decompress the accelerator ring to avoid damage.

Properties

The physical properties of the plasma window vary depending on application, but so far most have been generated at temperatures around 15,000 Kelvin (U.S. Patent 5,578,831 )

The only limit to the size of the plasma window are current energy limitations as generating the window consumes around 20 kW per inch (8 kW/cm) in the diameter of a round window.

The plasma window emits a bright glow, with the color being dependent on the gas used.

Similarity to "force fields"

In science fiction, such as the television series Star Trek, a fictional technology known as the "force field" is often used as a device. In some cases it is used as an external "door" to hangars on space ships, in order to prevent the ship's internal atmosphere from venting into outer space. Plasma windows could theoretically serve such a purpose if enough energy were available to produce them.

Notes

References

• Ady Hershcovitch (1995). High-pressure arcs as vacuum-atmosphere interface and plasma lens for nonvacuum electron beam welding machines, electron beam melting, and nonvacuum ion material modification, Journal of Applied Physics, 78(9): 5283-5288

• BNL Wins R&D 100 Award for `Plasma Window' [4]

• Ady Hershcovitch. Plasma Window Technology for Propagating Particle Beams and Radiation from Vacuum to Atmosphere. [5]