This discovery, made by Technion researchers from the Faculty of Physics, has far reaching implications for devices built on nanosecond pulsed discharge.<\/p>\n
\u201c99 percent of the universe around us is composed of plasma,\u201d explains Dr. Shurik Yatom who conducted the research under the guidance of Professor Yakov Krasik from the Faculty of Physics. \u201cOn Earth there is very little plasma and we must produce it in laboratories. It is useful in our attempts to produce energy; it is used in multiple devices such as high-current generators and microwave compressors, in sterilization processes, screens, small satellite engines, and recently we started using it for healing wounds. When it comes to time spans of nanoseconds, conventional wisdom so far has been that there is no great resistance, yet we at Technion discovered powerful electrical fields which translates into considerable resistance and results in energy loss.”<\/p>\n
Technion scientists have found the presence of plasma in electric fields of up to several thousands of Volt\/cm. \u00a0Most scientists use optical measures to measure the electric fields without changing the plasma properties. \u00a0In the described experiment, Technion researchers used two spatially coherent laser beams whose dispersion creates two additional coherent beams, according to the \u201cRaman Scattering\u201d effect. Measuring the intensity ratio \u00a0between these two new beams allows for the temporary measurement of the electric field at a very high resolution. The electric fields remains in plasma channels due to plasma resistance that lead to significant energy loss, which up till now was considered insignificant.<\/p>\n
In the photo: Professor Yakov Krasik from the Faculty of Physics<\/p>\n
Photographed by: The Technion\u2019s Spokesperson\u2019s Office<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"