Threshold of ion cyclotron parametric instability in a multispecies plasma

Experimental and theoretical studies are presented of ion cyclotron parametric instability into two electrostatic ion cyclotron waves in a multispecies plasma. The instability threshold obtained experimentally is in reasonable agreement with that predicted theoretically.     

On a new scenario for the saturation of the low-threshold two-plasmon parametric decay instability of an extraordinary wave in the inhomogeneous plasma of magnetic traps

The most probable scenario for the saturation of the low-threshold two-plasmon parametric decay instability of an electron cyclotron extraordinary wave has been analyzed. Within this scenario two upperhybrid plasmons at frequencies close to half the pump wave frequency radially trapped in the vicinity of the local maximum of the plasma density profile are excited due to the excitation of primary instability. The primary instability saturation results from the decays of the daughter upper-hybrid waves into secondary upperhybrid waves that are also radially trapped in the vicinity of the local maximum of the plasma density profile and ion Bernstein waves.     

Parametric Mechanism of Anomalous Microwave Power Absorption in Experiments on Electron Cyclotron Heating in Toroidal Magnetic Traps

The nonlinear stage of the parametric decay instability of an extraordinary wave is analyzed in the presence of a nonmonotonic density profile. The decay excites an electron Bernstein wave, which is localized in the vicinity of a local density maximum, and an ion Bernstein wave, which leaves a nonlinear interaction region and is absorbed by ions in the vicinity of the harmonics of the ion cyclotron frequency. The main mechanism of instability saturation is considered to be a cascade of decays of a primary daughter electron Bernstein wave, which leads to the excitation of localized secondary electron Bernstein waves and ion cyclotron (Bernstein) waves. The localization of electron Bernstein waves causes a significant decrease in the secondary- decay excitation threshold, which is thought to provide saturation of the primary instability at the lowest level. The saturation of the primary parametric decay instability of a pump wave and the anomalous absorption of the pump power are analytically estimated. A numerical simulation is performed using the parameters that are typical of the experiments on the electron cyclotron resonance heating of plasma at the second resonance harmonic in TCV tokamak.     

Low-threshold absolute parametric decay instabilities in experiments on electron cyclotron resonance heating in tokamaks

We have analyzed experimental conditions for the excitation of absolute parametric decay instabilities accompanying the electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) of plasma at the second harmonic of resonance in tokamaks. It has been shown that, in the case of a nonmonotonic radial profile of the plasma density, when a heating beam passes near the equatorial plane of a tokamak, the parametric excitation of resonances of ion Bernstein waves accompanied by the generation of the backscattered microwave radiation can occur. The threshold of absolute instability thus developed is determined by the dissipation of an ion Bernstein wave and can be exceeded in current experiments on the ECRH of a plasma in tokamaks.     

High-frequency emissions during the propagation of an electron beamin high-density plasma

A relativistic annular electron beam passing through a high-density plasma excites Langmuir waves via Cerenkov interaction. The Langmuir waves are backscattered off ions via nonlinear ion Landau damping. At moderately high amplitudes these waves are parametrically up-converted by the beam into high-frequency electromagnetic radiation, as observed in some recent experiments. A nonlocal theory of this process is developed in a cylindrical geometry. It is seen that the growth rate of the Langmuir wave scales as one-third the power of beam density. The growth rate of parametric instability scales as one-fourth the power of beam density and the square root of beam thickness     

Parametric Instability of Surface Waves on the Second Harmonic of Electron Cyclotron Frequency in a Plasma Layer

The parametric instability of surface waves on the second harmonic of electron cyclotron frequency (SWCF) in a plasma filled dielectric wave guide is examined in a kinetic approximation. The studied surface waves are extraordinary polarized modes and propagate across the external steady magnetic field. The amplitude of the electrical pump wave is assumed to be small. Simple expressions for increments of the parametric instability of the SWCF are calculated. The otained results can be used in controlled fusion researches in order to avoid undesirable regimes of plasma periphery heating in that fusion devices which use the resonance electron cyclotron heating method.     

Generation of Extra-Ordinary Mode Radiation by an Electrostatic Pump in a Two-Electron-Temperature Plasma

Coherent wave-wave coupling can produce radiation with a high efficiency. Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in the study of electro-magnetic wave generation in magnetized plasmas. We have investigated theoretically the effect of finite ion temperature on the parametric instability of an electro-static upperhybrid pump into an X-mode nonthermal radiation and low frequency ion waves in a two electron temperature plasma. The latter may include the lower-hybrid, the electron-acoustic and the ion-cyclotron waves. The loss cone distribution existing permanently at low altitudes acts as a free energy source generating the upper-hybrid waves. The upper-hybrid waves can also be present because of a linear instability produced by runaway electrons. Nonlinear dispersion relation and the growth rates are derived for each case using the hydrodynamical model. We find extra numerical factor arising due to the ions of finite temperature in the growth rate expression. This study may be useful in magnetosphere, auroral ionosphere, solar wind, solar radio bursts, and laboratory plasmas where ion has finite temperature and electrons have two distinct energy distributions.     

Observation of the parametric two-ion decay instability with thomson scattering

We present the first direct experimental observation of the parametric two-ion decay instability of ion-acoustic waves driven by a high intensity (5 x 10(15) W cm(-2)) laser beam in a laser produced high-Z plasma. Using two separate Thomson scattering diagnostics simultaneously, we directly measure the scattering from thermal ion-acoustic fluctuations, the primary ion waves that are driven to large amplitudes by the high intensity beam, and the two-ion decay products. The decay products are shown to be present only where the interaction takes place and their k spectrum is broad.     

离子束-等离子体系统中的参量不稳定性

本文研究了外pump电场E_0在离子束-等离子体系统中所激发的静电低频参量不稳定性。导出了这种低频波的一般色散关系,并用数值方法分析了一维质子束-等离子体系统的参量不稳定性的激发过程。结果表明:离子束对等离子体中参量不稳定性的激发有极重要的影响。当没有离子束时,只能激发一种模式的波;一旦将离子束引入等离子体中,就可以在系统中激发两个波长较长的低频波。     

Absolute parametric instability of low-frequency waves in a 2D nonuniform anisotropic warm plasma

Using the separation method, absolute parametric instability (API) of electrostatic waves in a magnetized pumped warm plasma is investigated. In this case the effect of static strong magnetic field is considered. The problem of strong magnetic field is solved in two-dimensional (2D) nonuniform plane plasma. Equations which describe the spatial part of the electric potential are obtained. Also, the growth rates and conditions of the parametric instability for periodic and aperiodic cases are obtained. It is found that the spatial nonuniformity of the plasma exerts a stabilizing effect on the API. It is shown that the growth rates of periodic and aperiodic API in warm plasma are less when compared to that in cold plasma.     

On the ponderomotive force and the effect of loss reaction on parametric instability

In this paper, the growth rate, ponderomotive force and the exciting condition for parametric instability are derived by considering the loss reaction using a new method. On the basis of the hydrodynamic equations, we take the production and loss reactions in plasma into account to derive the coupling equations for the electron plasma oscillation and ion acoustic oscillation, and obtain the growth rate for the parametric instability, the ponderomotive force and the exciting condition. The result shows that (a) the production reaction has no effect on the parametric instability, and the effect of loss reaction on the parametric instability is a damping one, (b) the more intensive the external field or pump is, the larger the growth rate is, (c) there exist two modes of the ponderomotive force, i.e.\ the high frequency mode and the low frequency mode, and (d) when ponderomotive force counteracts the damping force, the oscillations become non-damping and non-driving. The ratio of the electron plasma oscillation to ion acoustic oscillation is independent of the loss reaction and the external field.     

Pressure anisotropy effects on nonlinear electrostatic excitations in magnetized electron-positron-ion plasmas

The propagation of linear and nonlinear electrostatic waves is investigated in a magnetized anisotropic electron-positron-ion (e-p-i) plasma with superthermal electrons and positrons. A two-dimensional plasma geometry is assumed. The ions are assumed to be warm and anisotropic due to an external magnetic field. The anisotropic ion pressure is defined using the double adiabatic Chew-Golberger-Low (CGL) theory. In the linear regime, two normal modes are predicted, whose characteristics are investigated parametrically, focusing on the effect of superthermality of electrons and positrons, ion pressure anisotropy, positron concentration and magnetic field strength. A Zakharov-Kuznetsov (ZK) type equation is derived for the electrostatic potential (disturbance) via a reductive perturbation method. The parametric role of superthermality, positron content, ion pressure anisotropy and magnetic field strength on the characteristics of solitary wave structures is investigated. Following Allen and Rowlands [J. Plasma Phys. 53, 63 (1995)], we have shown that the pulse soliton solution of the ZK equation is unstable to oblique perturbations, and have analytically traced the dependence of the instability growth rate on superthermality and ion pressure anisotropy.     

Finite ion temperature effects on oblique modulational stability and envelope excitations of dust-ion acoustic waves

Theoretical and numerical investigations are carried out for the amplitude modulation of dust-ion acoustic waves (DIAW) propagating in an unmagnetized weakly coupled collisionless fully ionized plasma consisting of isothermal electrons, warm ions and charged dust grains. Modulation oblique (by an angle ) to the carrier wave propagation direction is considered. The stability analysis, based on a nonlinear Schrödinger-type equation (NLSE), exhibits a sensitivity of the instability region to the modulation angle , the dust concentration and the ion temperature. It is found that the ion temperature may strongly modify the waves stability profile, in qualitative agreement with previous results, obtained for an electron-ion plasma. The effect of the ion temperature on the formation of DIAW envelope excitations (envelope solitons) is also discussed.Received: 2 September 2003, Published online: 21 October 2003PACS: 52.27.Lw Dusty or complex plasmas; plasma crystals - 52.35.Fp Electrostatic waves and oscillations (e.g., ion-acoustic waves) - 52.35.Mw Nonlinear phenomena: waves, wave propagation, and other interactions (including parametric effects, mode coupling, ponderomotive effects, etc.) - 52.35.Sb Solitons; BGK modesI. Kourakis: On leave from: U.L.B., Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculté des Sciences Apliquées, C.P. 165/81 Physique Générale, avenue F.D. Roosevelt 49, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.     

Absolute parametric instability in a nonuniform plane plasma waveguide

The paper reports an analysis of the effect of spatial plasma nonuniformity on absolute parametric instability (API) of electrostatic waves in magnetized plane waveguides subjected to an intense high-frequency (HF) electric field using the separation method. In this case the effect of strong static magnetic field is considered. The problem of strong magnetic field is solved in 1D nonuniform plane plasma waveguide. The equation describing the spatial part of the electric potential is obtained. Also, the growth rates and conditions of the parametric instability for periodic and aperiodic cases are obtained. It is found that the spatial nonuniformity of the plasma exerts a stabilizing effect on the API. It is shown that the growth rates of periodic and aperiodic API in nonuniform plasma are less compared to that of uniform plasma.     

Parametric excitation by a pump magnetic field in a high temperature plasma

The parametric growth rates of Alfvén waves, fast compressional waves and ion acoustic waves excited by a time modulated magnetic field are calculated for the case of a high temperature plasma with anisotropic pressure. The plasma is described by the C.G.L. model.     

Experimental observation of motion of edge dislocations in Ge/Ge<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Si<Subscript>1–<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>/Si(001) (<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis> = 0.2–0.6) heterostructures

The rotating magnetohydrodynamic flows of a thin layer of astrophysical and space plasmas with a free surface in a vertical external magnetic field are considered in the shallow water approximation. The presence of a vertical external magnetic field changes significantly the dynamics of wave processes in an astrophysical plasma, in contrast to a neutral fluid and a plasma layer in an external toroidal magnetic field. There are three-wave nonlinear interactions in the case under consideration. Using the asymptotic method of multiscale expansions, we have derived nonlinear equations for the interaction of wave packets: three magneto- Poincare waves, three magnetostrophic waves, two magneto-Poincare and one magnetostrophic waves, and two magnetostrophic and one magneto-Poincare waves. The existence of decay instabilities and parametric amplification is predicted. We show that a magneto-Poincare wave decays into two magneto-Poincare waves, a magnetostrophic wave decays into two magnetostrophic waves, a magneto-Poincare wave decays into one magneto-Poincare and one magnetostrophic waves, and a magnetostrophic wave decays into one magnetostrophic and one magneto-Poincare waves. There are the following parametric amplification mechanisms: the parametric amplification of magneto-Poincare waves, the parametric amplification of magnetostrophic waves, the amplification of a magneto-Poincare wave in the field of a magnetostrophic wave, and the amplification of a magnetostrophic wave in the field of a magneto-Poincare wave. The instability growth rates and parametric amplification factors have been found for the corresponding processes.     

Low-threshold parametric decay instabilities in the experiments on the electron cyclotron resonance heating in tokamaks and stellarators

The experimental conditions have been analyzed for a significant reduction of the threshold of the reflective parametric decay instabilities under electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) of a plasma in magnetic devices in the absence of the upper hybrid resonance for the pump wave. The role of the nonmonotonic profile of the plasma density near the O point of the magnetic island, which allows for the localization of ion Bernstein waves in the direction of the density gradient and the suppression of convective losses from the decay region has been discussed. It has been shown that the threshold of the instability of the induced backscattering near the local maximum of the density profile is decreased by four orders of magnitude and is easily exceeded in present-day ECRH experiments at a power of several hundred kilowatts.     

On the low-threshold parametric mechanism of the anomalous power absorption in electron cyclotron resonance heating experiments in toroidal devices

The experimental conditions that facilitate the excitation of parametric decay instabilities upon the electron cyclotron resonance heating of a plasma at the second harmonic extraordinary wave in tokamaks and stellarators and, as a result, make anomalous absorption of microwave power possible have been analyzed. It has been shown that, in the case of a nonmonotonic radial profile of the plasma density, when the beam of electron cyclotron waves passes near the equatorial plane of a toroidal device, the parametric excitation of electron Bernstein waves, as well as the generation of ion Bernstein waves propagating from the parametric decay region to the nearest ion cyclotron harmonic, where they efficiently interact with ions, is possible. The proposed theoretical model can explain the anomalous generation of accelerated ions observed upon electron cyclotron heating in small and moderate toroidal facilities.     

Comparing mechanical analysis with generalized-competitive-mode analysis for the plasma chaotic system

The plasma chaotic system is a dissipative dynamical system modeled by a parametric plasma instability arising from the interaction of the whistler and ion acoustic waves with the plasma oscillation near the lower hybrid resonance. The amplitudes of these three oscillations obey a three-dimensional system of ordinary differential equations that exhibits chaos for certain parameter values. Besides the maximal Lyapunov exponent technique, a generalized-competitive-mode (GCM) technique has been proposed to evaluate parameter values associated with chaos. A mechanical analysis has also been proposed to reveal the mechanisms underlying the different dynamical modes including chaos. In a series of comparisons between the GCM analysis and mechanical analysis, chaos for the plasma chaotic system is determined. The mechanism and causes by which the plasma chaotic system produces different dynamical behaviors are interpreted. Furthermore, using the whistler-parameter variation of the Casimir function and Casimir power for the plasma system, the generating mechanisms of the different orbital modes and the different levels of chaos are uncovered.     

Current-Driven Kink-Like Instability in Collisional Plasmas

The stability of left-hand circularly polarized waves propagating along an external magnetic field with wavelengths much larger than the ion Larmor radius is studied for fully-ionized collisional plasmas carrying a field-aligned current. It is found that, in the presence of electron-ion collisions, this "kink-like" instability has two branches of unstable wavenumbers: a main branch and a resistive branch. The resistive branch owes its existence to electron-ion collisions, but its growth rate is much smaller than that of the main branch, which is typically some fraction of the ion cyclotron frequency. The effect of collisions on the main branch is to reduce its maximum growth rate while extending the range of unstable wavenumbers to larger values. However, these changes are significant only when the electron-ion collision frequency is comparable to the electron cyclotron frequency. The dispersion relation is solved numerically for plasma and magnetic field parameters appropriate to the UCLA arcjet plasma. The results show that, within the framework of an infinite and homogeneous theory, the kink-like instability should occur in this plasma device.