Magnetically Tailored, Atmospheric-Pressure Plasmas for Atomic Spectroscopy

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Abstract
Three magnetic field-plasma configurations are used to study the interaction of external magnetic fields with analytically useful, atmospheric-pressure plasmas. A magnetic field normal to the electric field in the plasma produced by the capacitive discharge vaporization of a thin Ag film is used to obtain an ExB drift motion of the plasma. Photographs show that this drift motion can drastically alter the size, shape, and location of the plasma. The same plasma-generation technique is combined with a nonuniform magnetic field to obtain an adiabatic magnetic-mirror ion trap. Finally, the cylindrically symmetric plasma produced by the capacitive discharge vaporization of a thin metal wire or a bundle of graphite fibers is combined with an axial magnetic field to obtain a theta pinch of the plasma. In all cases, the plasma current is used to generate the magnetic field in a large air-core inductor surrounding the plasma. Radiative and electrical properties of these magnetically modified plasmas will be presented.