Arc rotation characteristics of a plasma centrifuge with a counter-rotating electrical discharge

• Arc rotation velocities were measured in a counter-rotating plasma centrifuge.
• Rotational velocity was negligible at center regions of the counter-rotating plasma.
• At electrode regions, arc rotation was maximized by the enhanced Lorentz force.
• In counter-rotating plasma, mass separation can occur mostly near the electrodes.

Arc rotation velocities of a plasma centrifuge with a counter-rotating electrical discharge were measured by using double probes placed perpendicular to each other. The measurement results were compared with the results calculated from the analytic solutions suggested by Hong et al. The comparison revealed that the arc column near the electrodes can be rotated much faster by increasing the arc currents and magnetic fields. For example, the rotational velocity of the are column near the electrodes was increased from 75 to 150 m/s with the increase of magnetic flux density from 15 to 45 mT at the fixed arc current of 50 A. On the other hand, the rotational velocity of the arc column showed only negligible changes at the plane of symmetry, where the radial component of the arc current was designed to become zero due to the symmetry of the counter-rotating electrical discharge. From these measurement results and analytic solutions, gaseous mixtures of different masses can be separated effectively near the electrode regions of a plasma centrifuge with a counter-rotating electrical discharge.