Two-Millimeter Radiation from Stratospheric Nuclear Explosions

Resumo

The dependence of the spectral power of radiation in the transmission window of air near wavelength 2 mm on the altitude of stratospheric nuclear explosions is investigated. One of the rotational transition lines of nitrogen oxide NO is studied. Calculations of the time dependence of the nitrogen oxide concentration were performed by the method of mathematical modeling of plasma. It is shown that a large amount of nitrogen oxide is formed by explosion γ-rays in the partial-ionization region ahead of the shock wave front; the nitrogen oxide concentration reaches a quasistationary level and remains almost constant for hundreds of microseconds. The quasistationariness is maintained by secondary γ-rays arising in inelastic scattering of explosion neutrons. Estimates of the spectral power of radiation near wavelength 2 mm are obtained. It is shown that at altitude 45 km above the ground the spectral power of the radiation is 10⁵ times greater than for ground-level explosions.