Resonant supersonic gas valve and nozzle
A high speed valve has a conductive flyer plate responsive to eddy currents induced by an adjacent coil. The eddy currents generate a repulsive force which opens the valve, and a low-mass flyer plate and spring combined with a resonant plate and spring combination provide a fast opening and closing time for the valve. A nozzle structure directs a supersonic flow of gas into a rectangular array of high-density gas suitable for interaction with a laser beam transverse to the rectangular array of jets for the production of wakefield interaction, leading to very high-energy electrons from the gas jet.
1. A resonant valve having:
an enclosed volume coupled to a pressurized gas inlet and having an outlet surrounded by a seal in contact with a flange part of a movable flyer plate;
a cylindrical electromagnetic coil carrying a pulsatile current for generating eddy currents in said movable flyer plate flange;
a spring coupled to an opposite surface of said movable flyer plate from said seal and generating a spring force against said seal;
said outlet coupled to a stilling volume and to an aperture;
where said movable flyer plate mass, said pulsatile current, and the spring constant of said spring are selected such that said flyer plate flange eddy currents flow in a first direction which generates a repelling magnetic force on said movable flyer plate which overcomes the force of said spring and sufficient to separate said movable flyer plate flange from said seal during a first interval of time sufficient to generate supersonic gas flow from said aperture, where the force of said spring in a subsequent interval closes said flyer plate against said seal.
2. The resonant valve of claim 1 where said aperture is a linear array of apertures.
3. The resonant valve of claim 1 where at least one said aperture is conical along an aperture axis.
4. The resonant valve of claim 1 where said aperture generates supersonic flow during said first interval or during said subsequent interval.
5. The resonant valve of claim 1 where said first interval and said subsequent interval are less than 1 ms.
6. The resonant valve of claim 1 where said flyer plate includes a cylindrical part which is surrounded by part of said output aperture.