Ion cyclotron instabilities in a mildly relativistic hydrogen-deuterium fusion plasma

A dispersion relation for the perpendicular propagation of the electromagnetic ion cyclotron wave around the second harmonic of the deuterium ion gyrofrequency in a mildly relativistic, anisotropic Maxwellian plasma with hydrogen as the majority species and deuterium as the minority component has been derived. The work has been carried out in the frame of reference of the majority hydrogen ions; to these ions the waves at 2Θ_D would be at its own gyrofrequency. Using a small quantityɛ to order all relevant parameters of the plasma, it was possible to derive the dispersion relations in a simple form. To the lowest order the relativistic factors do not enter the dispersion relation. The plasma can now support two modes—one above and the other below the hydrogen gyrofrequency in agreement with the assumptions. This was also verified numerically using a standard root solver thereby justifying the correctness of the ordering scheme. In the next higher order, the dispersion relation is a quartic equation and is sensitively dependent on the relativistic factors. The plasma can now support four modes, both above and below the hydrogen gyrofrequency and consistent with the ordering scheme used. However the modes can now coalesce resulting in complex conjugate roots to the dispersion relation thereby indicating an instability. The advantage of such a scheme is that two dispersion relations — one of which is independent of the relativistic factors and the other which is sensitively dependent on them can be separated out.     

Near perpendicular propagation of ion cyclotron modes in a deuterium-hydrogen-oxygen fusion plasma

A dispersion relation for the near perpendicular propagation of the electromagnetic ion cyclotron wave has been derived in a fusion plasma that has deuterium as a majority species, hydrogen as a minority species and fully ionized oxygen as an impurity constituent; all being modelled by loss cone distribution functions. The wave has a frequencyω around the deuterium ion gyrofrequency-Ω_D and a wavelength much longer than its Larmor radiusγ _LD(k _⊥ γ _LD<1); the plasma itself being characterized by large ion plasma frequencies (ω _PD ² >Ω _D ² ). Two modes, a low frequency (LF) and a high frequency (HF) mode of opposite electrical energy can propagate in the plasma; the instabilities that arise are thus due to an interaction of modes of opposite energies. We find that while hydrogen tends to destabilize the plasma, the impurity oxygen ions have the reverse effect. Also the plasma is most stable when the ratios of the perpendicular components of oxygen-to-deuterium and hydrogen-to-deuterium temperatures are kept low. Detailed studies of the wave propagation characteristics and energy reveal the close resemblance of a loss cone plasma containing oxygen to a stable Maxwellian plasma in regard to wave stability, propagation and energy.     

Dispersion and spectral characteristics of crossfield instability in collisional magnetoplasma

Results on dispersion and spectral characteristics of crossfield instability in a collisional magnetoplasma are presented for different values of externally applied radial electric field. The dispersion relation obtained experimentally differs significantly from predictions of linear theory for strong electric fields.K-spectra for density and potential fluctuations follow power law with indices (−3·7 ± 0·5) and (−5·6 ± 0·6) respectively. At large values of applied electric fields, the main crossfield modes appear to give rise to a number of other modes possibly through non-linear wave-wave interactions. Large amplitudem = 2 mode displays strong sidebands indicating particle trapping by the non-linear waves. Non-linear wave-wave and wave particle interactions, thus, appear to play at important role in the saturation of the cross field instability.     

Wall Effects on the Propagation of Compressional Alfvén Waves in a Cylindrical Plasma with Two-Ion Species

The dispersion relations for the compressional Alfvén waves in a two-ion species plasma of deuterium and hydrogen are calculated for a configuration which includes a vacuum layer between the cylindrical plasma and the conducting wall. The presence of the vacuum layer strongly affects the propagation of the compressional Alfvén wave, permitting some branches to propagate and penetrate the plasmacolumn over most frequencies in the ion-cyclotron range. Basic Alfvén-wave propagation and heating experiments in two-ion species consequently should be possible using tokamak and mirror devces with minor radii smaller than the Alfvén wavelength.     

Common vacuum conservation amplitude in the theory of the radiation of mirrors in two-dimensional space-time and of charges in four-dimensional space-time

The changes in the action (and thus the vacuum conservation amplitudes) in the proper-time representation are found for an accelerated mirror interacting with scalar and spinor vacuum fields in 1+1 space. They are shown to coincide to within a factor of e ² with changes in the action of electric and scalar charges accelerated in 3+1 space. This coincidence is attributed to the fact that the Bose and Fermi pairs emitted by a mirror have the same spins 1 and 0 as do the photons and scalar quanta emitted by charges. It is shown that the propagation of virtual pairs in 1+1 space can be described by the causal Green’s function Δ_f(z,μ) of the wave equation for 3+1 space. This is because the pairs can have any positive mass and their propagation function is represented by an integral of the causal propagation function of a massive particle in 1+1 space over mass which coincides with Δ_f(z,μ). In this integral the lower limit μ is chosen small, but nonzero, to eliminate the infrared divergence. It is shown that the real and imaginary parts of the change in the action are related by dispersion relations, in which a mass parameter serves as the dispersion variable. They are a consequence of the same relations for Δ_f(z, μ). Therefore, the emergence of a real part in the change in the action is a direct consequence of causality, according to which Re Δ_f(z,μ)≠0 only for timelike and lightlike intervals. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 1523–1538 (November 1999)     

Plasma-filled rippled wall rectangular backward wave oscillator driven by sheet electron beam

Performance of the backward wave oscillator (BWO) is greatly enhanced with the introduction of plasma. Linear theory of the dispersion relation and the growth rate have been derived and analysed numerically for plasma-filled rippled wall rectangular waveguide driven by sheet electron beam. To see the effect of plasma on the TM₀₁ cold wave structure mode and on the generated frequency, the parameters used are: relativistic factor γ = 1.5 (i.e. v/c = 0.741), average waveguide height y ₀ = 1.445 cm, axial corrugation period z ₀ = 1.67 cm, and corrugation amplitude ε = 0.225 cm. The plasma density is varied from zero to 2 ×10¹² cm^− 3. The presence of plasma tends to raise the TM₀₁ mode cut-off frequency (14 GHz at 2 ×10¹² cm^− 3 plasma density) relative to the vacuum cut-off frequency (5 GHz) which also causes a decrease in the group velocity everywhere, resulting in a flattening of the dispersion relation. With the introduction of plasma, an enhancement in absolute instability was observed.     

Trivelpiece-Gould-Modes in an Axial Inhomogeneous Plasma

Experiments on the propagation of TG-modes in a weakly inhomogeneous plasma are reported. The modes travel from the high density part (ω < ω_pe) to that of lower density (ω > ω_pe). The wavelength decreases as expected but an increase of the longitudinal fieldstrength predicted by collisionless theory could not be observed. Two nonlinear effects appear one after another with increasing wave amplitude. These are the sideband instability and a decay into the drift frequency range occuring in the whole plasma column. Neither the region ω ≈ ω_pe nor the very vicinity of the exciter antenna are distinguished. The second instability is accompanied by effective electron heating.     

Feedback stabilization of drift cyclotron loss cone instability by modulated electron sources

It is shown that the drift cyclotron loss cone instability can be suppressed by modulating electron density within the plasma. With the feedback in +90° phase the critical density gradient needed for the onset of the drift cyclotron loss cone instability increases approximately linearly with the gain. Typically with the gain of −50Ω _i the critical density gradient can be pushed up by as much as two orders of magnitude and minimum mirror plasma radius can be brought down in the same proportion.     

Wave Instabilities of a Collisionless Plasma in Fluid Approximation

Wave properties and instabilities in a magnetized, anisotropic, collisionless, rarefied hot plasma in fluid approx‐imation are studied, using the 16‐moments set of the transport equations obtained from the Vlasov equations. These equations differ from the CGL‐MHD fluid model (single fluid equations by Chew, Goldberger, and Low [5,9]) by including two anisotropic heat flux evolution equations, where the fluxes invalidate the double polytropic CGL laws. We derived the general dispersion relation for linear compressible wave modes. Besides the classic incompressible fire hose modes there appear four types of compressible wave modes: two fast and slow mirror modes – strongly modified compared to the CGL model – and two thermal modes. In the presence of initial heat fluxes along the magnetic field the wave properties become different for the waves running forward and backward with respect to the magnetic field. The well known discrepancies between the results of the CGL‐MHD fluid model and the kinetic theory are now removed: i) The mirror slow mode instability criterion is now the same as that in the kinetic theory. ii) Similarly, in kinetic studies there appear two kinds of fire hose instabilities ‐ incompressible and compressible ones. These two instabilities can arise for the same plasma parameters, and the instability of the new compressible oblique fire hose modes can become dominant. The compressible fire hose instability is the result of the resonance coupling of three retrograde modes ‐ two thermal modes and a fast mirror mode. The results can be applied to the theory of solar and stellar coronal and wind models (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Ordinary and extraordinary cyclotron waves in metals

Dispersion equations for the ordinary and extraordinary cyclotron waves propagating perpendicular to the magnetic field in metals in the critical region where the wavelength is comparable to the electron Larmor radius are derived as an infinite but rapidly converging power series expansion in δ( = Ω/Ω-M). Numerical studies for the cyclotron wave propagation near the first seven resonances are carried out. The non-local behaviour of those waves in the critical region 01 ⩽ kR ⩽ 3-0 is studied. For the ordinary waves the first few resonances show significant dispersion than those near higher resonances which are dispersion-free. Only one extraordinary wave propagates near the fundamental cyclotron frequency. For the higher resonances, two modes propagate near each of the resonant frequencies, of which one mode remains constant for all values ofkR whereas the second mode shows significant dispersion. But beyond the fifth resonance both the modes are dispersion free.     

Wavevector and frequency dependent dielectric function dynamic structure factor and the instability of plasma waves in two component hot rare quantum and classical plasmas

The full wavevector and frequency dependent complex dielectric function for two component classical and quantum rare hot plasmas have been derived. The real part of dielectric function is obtained in the form of a series. Difference between quantum and classical real and imaginary parts of dielectric function have been brought out by making explicit calculations. The quantum nature of the plasma brings about significant changes in both parts depending upon the magnitude of quantum parameter,R (= 8.93(λ_th)/λ). Expressions for the dynamic structure factors for both two component classical and quantum plasma have been evaluated for different values of the mass of the positive componentm ₊, temperature T₊ and wavevector k. It is found that the plasma exhibits well defined collective modes for certain values of |k| accompanied by varying disorder which depends upon the values of m₊ as well as on |k| and T₊. For the quantum case the collective modes are less well defined as compared to the corresponding classical case, thus proving that quantum nature introduces inherent disorder in the system. But for both the cases, increase in temperature destroys collective modes. Another feature is the appearance of a hump near Ω = 0 which becomes smaller and vanishes as the quantum parameter is decreased. Instability of plasma modes in the presence of constant electric field has also been worked out for the quantum case.     

Nonlinear theory of mirror instability near its threshold

An asymptotic model based on a reductive perturbative expansion of the drift kinetic and Maxwell’s equations is used to demonstrate that, near the instability threshold, the nonlinear dynamics of mirror modes in a magnetized plasma with anisotropic ion temperatures involves a subcritical bifurcation, leading to the formation of small-scale structures with amplitudes comparable with the ambient magnetic field.     

ICRF Heating Theory

The fundamental aspects of plasma heating in the Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) are presented, with an emphasis on heating tokamak devices. Topics include wave propagation, minority heating, ion-ion hybrid mode conversion, second harmonic heating, evolution of the ion velocity distribution, and ICRF antenna design.     

Low-frequency fluctuations in a pure toroidal magnetized plasma

A magnetized, low-β plasma in pure toroidal configuration is formed and extensively studied with ion mass as control parameter. Xenon, krypton and argon plasmas are formed at a fixed toroidal magnetic field of 0.024 T, with a peak density of ∼10¹¹ cm⁻³, ∼4 × 10¹⁰ cm ⁻³ and ∼2 × 10¹⁰ cm ⁻³ respectively. The experimental investigation of time-averaged plasma parameter reveals that their profiles remain insensitive to ion mass and suggests that saturated slab equilibrium is obtained. Low-frequency (LF) coherent fluctuations (ω < ω _ci) are observed and identified as flute modes. Here ω _ci represents ion cyclotron frequency. Our results indicate that these modes get reduced with ion mass. The frequency of the fluctuating mode decreases with increase in the ion mass. Further, an attempt has been made to discuss the theory of flute modes to understand the relevance of some of our experimental observations.     

Optical properties of nonlinear solid solution GaSe<Subscript>1-<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>S<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> (0 < <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis> ≤ 0.4) crystals

Transmission spectra and phase matching conditions for second harmonic generation in GaSe_1–x S _x (0 < x ≤ 0.4) solid solution crystals are experimentally investigated. An algorithm is suggested and dispersion equations are derived that allow the phase matching angles describing best the available experimental data to be estimated as a function of the mixing ratio x. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 10, pp. 80–85, October, 2008.     

Jeans-Buneman instability in a dusty plasma

A self consistent formulation of the Jeans instability of a dusty plasma with proper inclusion of charge dynamics is described. It is shown that charge fluctuations significantly affect the Jeans as well as the Buneman mode. For plasma particles (electrons and ions) in local thermal equilibrium, the Jeans lengthλ _J is given byλ _J≈λ _g F(R, ε, β/η), whereλ _g is the Debye length of the charged grains,R is the square of the ratio of the Jeans to the plasma frequency of the grains,ε is the square of the ratio of the Debye length of the grains and the plasma particles andβ/η is the ratio of the attachment to the decay frequency of the electronic charges to the grain surface. The functional form ofF is given in the text. Numerical investigation of the Jeans-Buneman mode for a two and three component plasma shows that the Jeans mode dominates atkλ _D≪1 (wherek is the wave number andλ _D is the Debye length of plasma particles), whereas atkλ _D≫1 only the Buneman mode operates. Charge fluctuations reduce the area of overlap of the two modes. Furthermore, in the absence of gravity, there exists a new, charge fluctuation induced unstable mode in a streaming dusty plasma. Astrophysical applications of the results are discussed.     

Influence of Finite Larmor Radius with Finite Electrical and Thermal Conductivities on the Gravitational Instability of a Magnetized Rotating Plasma Through a Porous Medium

An infinitely extending homogeneous, self-gravitating rotating magnetized plasma flowing through a porous medium has been considered under the influence of Finite Larmor Radius (FLR) and other transport phenomena. A general dispersion relation has been derived through the linearized perturbation equations. Longitudinal and transverse modes of propagation have been discussed for the rotation with axis parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field. The joint influence, of the aforesaid parameters, does not essentially change the Jeans' criterion of instability but modifies the same. The adiabatic sonic speed has been replaced by the isothermal one due to the thermal conductivity. It is further observed that the FLR corrections have stabilizing effect for an inviscid, non-rotating plasma, in case of transverse propagation. Rotation decreases the Larmor radius, whereas the porosity reduces the effects of rotation, FLR, and the magnetic field. Viscosity removes the effects of both, the roation, and the FLR corrections.     

Spectra of high-frequency waves in hot magnetized plasmas

On the basis of numerical solution of the dispersion equation, we obtain the spectra of weakly damped high-frequency waves in a hot magnetized plasma for the case where the electron cyclotron frequency ω_He is below the plasma frequency ω_pe. It is shown that the longitudinal wave propagating at an angle to the magnetic field evolves into the slow extraordinary wave for the refractive index n ≤ 1. For n ≫ 1, the longitudinal-wave frequency increases with the refractive index, and the wave evolves into the wave with anomalous dispersion if the angle θ between the wave vector and the magnetic field is close to 90°. In the same range of θ angles, Bernstein modes appear in the spectrum of plasma eigenmode oscillations. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 258–266, March 2006.     

Propagation of Surface Modes in a Warm Non-Magnetized Quantum Plasma System

The propagation of surface modes in warm non-magnetized quantum plasma is investigated.The surface modes are assumed to propagate on the plane between vacuum and warm quantum plasma.The quantum hydrodynamic model including quantum diffraction effect(the Bohm potential) and quantum statistical pressure is used to derive a new dispersion relation of surface modes.The new dispersion relation of surface modes is analyzed in some special interesting cases.It is shown that the dispersion relation can be reduced to the earlier results in some special cases.The results indicate that the quantum effects can facilitate the propagation of surface modes in such a semi-bounded plasma system.This work is helpful to understand the physical characteristics of the surface modes and the bounded quantum plasma.     

Longitudinal electro-kinetic waves in ion-implanted semiconductor plasmas

A comprehensive investigation of propagation of new longitudinal electro-kinetic modes and novel properties introduced due to presence of negatively charged colloids in semiconductor plasma is presented. By employing the multi-fluid balance equations, a compact dispersion relation for the cases in which wave phase velocity is either larger or smaller than electron thermal velocity is derived. This dispersion relation is used to study wave phenomena and electro-kinetic mode instability numerically. We find important modifications in electro-kinetic branch as well as the existence of new modes of propagation in colloids laden semiconductor plasma. The results of this investigation should be useful in understanding the characteristics of longitudinal electro-kinetic wave in colloids laden semiconductor plasmas whose main constituents are electrons, holes and negatively charged colloids.Received: 15 June 2004, Published online: 7 September 2004PACS: 52.35.Fp Electrostatic waves and oscillations (e.g., ion-acoustic waves) - 72.30. + q High-frequency effects; plasma effects - 61.72.Ww Doping and impurity implantation in other materials - 82.70.Dd Colloids