On the expansion of non-ideal copper plasma into vacuum

Abstract

The expansion of non-ideal copper plasma into vacuum is analyzed for the conditions typical to explosive electron emission in vacuum arcs. The gas-dynamic model solves the Euler equations with an equation of state (EoS) for weakly non-ideal plasma taking into account the ionization energy correction due to electron-ion Coulomb coupling. We have obtained that the EoS has insignificant influence on the plasma expansion, when the plasma properties and composition change drastically. Based on our simulation results, the validity of the 'frozen' state theory often used in the vacuum arcs plasma diagnostics is questionable.