An Apparatus to Investigate Plasmas at Very High Pressure

Abstract
Steady state electrical arc discharges are operated in argon at pressures up to 950 atm and arc currents up to 200 A. The high pressure system consisting of various arc configurations, pressure vessels, gas and water pumps with heat exchanger and pressure equalization chamber is described. Also the electrical and spectroscopic measurements performed at the discharges are discussed. Voltage‐current dependences of arcs with different currents are presented as functions of the gas pressure and are compared with predictions based on the energy equation of the arc columns.