Increase of the backward Raman reflectivity caused by the langmuir decay instability in an inhomogeneous plasma: the loss of gradient stabilization

We investigate the nonlinear evolution of the backward stimulated Raman scattering (BSRS) in the regime where the nonlinear saturation mechanism is the Langmuir decay instability resulting from the coupling of the BSRS-generated Langmuir wave with the ion acoustic waves. We present numerical results obtained with a fluid-type code in one- and two-dimensional spatial dimensions, in the case of an inhomogeneous plasma. The plasma density is under quarter-critical and depends linearly on the longitudinal spatial coordinate, in the regime where the Rosenbluth gain factor for the amplitude, denoted as G(Ros), is in the range pi/2< or =G_(Ros)< or =6. We observe that the Langmuir decay instability is able to suppress the gradient stabilization and restore the absolute nature of BSRS, thus leading to a significantly increased BSRS reflectivity.     

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     

Magnetic flux generation and wave emissions during coalescence of magnetic islands in pair plasmas

It is shown by using a two-dimensional fully relativistic electromagnetic particle-in-cell code that the tearing instability in a current sheet of pair plasmas is caused by Landau resonances of both electrons and positrons. Strong magnetic flux can be generated during coalescence of magnetic islands in the nonlinear phase of the tearing instability. The magnetic flux produced in an O-type magnetic island is caused by the counterstreaming instability found by Kazimura et al. [Astrophys. J. Lett. 498, L183 (1998); J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 67, 1079 (1998)]. It is also shown that charge separation with a quadrupole-like structure is generated from the localized strong magnetic flux. During the decay of the quadrupole-like charge structure as well as the magnetic flux, there appear wave emissions with high-frequency electromagnetic waves and Alfvén waves as well as Langmuir waves.     

Solitons in a magnetized relativistic electron-positron plasma

Nonlinear equations for the interaction of the Langmuir wave field and the transverse electromagnetic field in the pulsar magnetosphere are derived. These equations take into account the modulational instability of plasma waves and its decay into two transversal waves.     

Plasma-maser instability in dusty plasmas

The growth rates of the Langmuir and electromagnetic radiation due to the plasma-maser instability in multicomponent unmagnetized plasmas with stationary charged particulates are obtained. The up-conversion of the wave energy from ion-acoustic oscillations to the test Langmuir and electromagnetic waves is much enhanced owing to the enhanced accelaration of electrons by the dust ion-acoustic mode. The results could be important for the interpretation of high-frequency waves in space and astrophysical dusty plasmas.     

Stability of ion acoustic turbulent states

Several proposed renormalized theories for strong ion acoustic turbulence are compared to the direct interaction approximation. These are applied to the calculation of the stability of ion acoustic turbulent states to the excitation of Langmuir waves. A kinetic instability proposed by Tsytovich, Stenflo, and Wilhelmsson is shown to be stabilized by resonant and nonresonant decay processes. The global kinetic stability of the Langmuir spectrum is enhanced through the coupling of opposite phase velocity Langmuir waves by the decay processes and by nonresonant scattering to regions of strong Landau damping.     

Modulation of dust acoustic waves with non-adiabatic dust charge fluctuations

The modulational instability of dust acoustic waves in a dusty plasma with non-adiabatic dust charge fluctuation is studied. Using the perturbation method, a modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation containing a damping term that comes from the effect of dust charge variation is derived. It is found that the modulational instability of the wave packet and the propagation characters of the envelope solitary waves are modified significantly by the non-adiabatic dust charge fluctuation.     

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.     

Regimes and spectra of čerenkov beam instability in a nonlinear plasma

We study the nonlinear evolution of an arbitrary initial disturbance due to the development of Čerenkov beam instability in a magnetized plasma-beam system of finite transverse size. Singleparticle, collective, and aperiodic regimes of this instability are considered. We calculate the nonlinear spatial spectra of the waves excited at different development stages of the beam instability in a plasma for the cases of quasi-monochromatic, pulsed, and noise initial disturbances. We analyze the formation and decay of regular structures in the beam and plasma at the developed nonlinear stage of the process. We find that plasma nonlinearity leads to the transfer of disturbance energy to the short-wave region of the spectrum. We show that, due to the development of beam instability, noise initial disturbance tends to become more monochromatic, whereas the shape of a pulsed one tends to remain unchanged. Transformation of monochromatic spatial disturbances into quasi-monochromatic plasma waves due to the instability development is analyzed. Institute of General Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 42, No. 10, pp. 958–976, October 1999.     

Observation of a transition from fluid to kinetic nonlinearities for langmuir waves driven by stimulated Raman backscatter

Thomson scattering is used to measure Langmuir waves (LW) driven by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in a diffraction limited laser focal spot. For SRS at wave numbers klambda(D) less similar 0.29, where k is the LW number and lambda(D) is the Debye length, multiple waves are detected and are attributed to the Langmuir decay instability (LDI) driven by the primary LW. At klambda(D) greater similar 0.29, a single wave, frequency-broadened spectrum is observed. The transition from the fluid to the kinetic regime is qualitatively consistent with particle-in-cell simulations and crossing of the LDI amplitude threshold above that for LW self-focusing.     

Laser–plasma interaction physics in the context of fusion

Of vital importance for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) are the understanding and control of the nonlinear processes which can occur during the propagation of the laser pulses through the underdense plasma surrounding the fusion capsule. The control of parametric instabilities has been studied experimentally, using the LULI six-beam laser facility, and also theoretically and numerically. New results based on the direct observation of plasma waves with Thomson scattering of a short wavelength probe beam have revealed the occurence of the Langmuir decay instability. This secondary instability may play an imporant role in the saturation of stimulated Raman scattering. Another mechanism for reducing the growth of the scattering instabilities is the so-called `plasma-induced incoherence'. Namely, recent theoretical studies have shown that the propagation of laser beams through the underdense plasma can increase their spatial and temporal incoherence. This plasma-induced beam smoothing can reduce the levels of parametric instabilities. One signature of this process is a large increase of the spectral width of the laser light after propagation through the plasma. Comparison of the experimental results with numerical simulations shows an excellent agreement between the observed and calculated time-resolved spectra of the transmitted laser light at various laser intensities.     

Convective Brillouin amplification in a homogeneous plasma slab

The coupled-mode Brillouin backscatter equations, describing weakly nonlinear decay of a damped pump into two damped daughter waves, are solved analytically in the convective instability regime, yielding the convective instability threshold and backward amplification of a noise source.     

Observable consequences of Langmuir turbulence in active galacticnuclei

The author discusses in detail the observable consequences of nonlinear microscopic plasma processes in active galactic nuclei. The combination of several elementary momentum-gain (shock acceleration and stochastic acceleration) and momentum-loss processes (synchrotron radiation, inverse Compton scattering) produces an almost monoenergetic distribution function of relativistic electrons, called the pile-up, which excites Langmuir waves. Turbulent wave-wave and wave-particle interactions lead to nonlinear stabilization of the pile-up. The temporal and spatial evolution of the Langmuir waves and the relativistic electrons determines the shape and time scale of the spectral variations. The model is applied to extragalactic nuclei and to the galactic center as well     

Nonlinear Dynamics of Wave Beams and Packets in an Ionizable Medium

We present a review of the studies on nonlinear dynamics of the plasma–field system formed in the processes of breakdown of a gas by high-intensity laser or microwave radiation. The ionization instability dominating these processes significantly modifies the known effects of self-action of waves in a medium and gives rise to a number of new effects which are absent for other nonlinearity mechanisms. We describe the most important among these effects, such as the ionization–field instability of a plane wave, the self-channeling of radiation in the form of surface or leaky waves, and the self-conversion of the spectrum of the ionizing radiation. The results of numerical simulations of the dynamics of nonequilibrium freely-localized discharges created by focused microwave and laser pulses are presented.     

Parametric instabilities in quantum plasmas with electron exchange-correlation effects

Parametric instabilities induced by the nonlinear interaction between high frequency quantum Langmuir waves and low frequency quantum ion-acoustic waves in quantum plasmas with the electron exchange-correlation effects are presented.By using the quantum hydrodynamic equations with the electron exchange-correlation correction,we obtain an effective quantum Zaharov model,which is then used to derive the modified dispersion relations and the growth rates of the decay and four-wave instabilities.The influences of the electron exchange-correlation effects and the quantum effects on the existence of quantum Langmuir waves and the parametric instabilities are discussed in detail.It is shown that the electron exchange-correlation effects and quantum effects are strongly coupled.The quantum Langmuir wave can propagate in quantum plasmas only when the electron exchange-correlation effects and the quantum effects satisfy a certain condition.The electron exchange-correlation effects tend to enhance the parametric instabilities,while quantum effects suppress the instabilities.     

Hydrodynamic analysis of electrostatic counter-streaming instability in a spin-polarized electron–positron–ion plasma

In this study, we present linear analysis of electrostatic counter-streaming instability in spin-polarized electron–positron–ion (e-p-i) plasma. With the aid of the separate spin evolution-quantum hydrodynamic (SSE-QHD) model, we derive the dispersion relation of counter-streaming instability. We numerically solve the dispersion and find four wave solutions: Langmuir wave, positron acoustic mode, and two electron and positron spin-dependent waves. It is noted that coupling of streaming and spin effects excites Langmuir instability and positron acoustic mode instability. However, in the absence of spin effect, only Langmuir instability will survive in e-p-i plasma. We have also discussed the effects of positron concentration, streaming speed, and spin polarization on the real frequency of waves and the growth rate. The present study may be helpful for understanding longitudinal wave propagation and instabilities in dense magnetized environments.     

Linear and nonlinear excitations in complex plasmas with nonadiabatic dust charge fluctuation and dust size distribution

Both linear and nonlinear excitation in dusty plasmas have been investigated including the nonadiabatic dust charge fluctuation and Gaussian size distribution dust particles. A linear dispersion relation and a Korteweg-de Vries-Burgers equation governing the dust acoustic shock waves are obtained. The relevance of the instability of wave and the wave evolution to the dust size distribution and nonadiabatic dust charge fluctuation is illustrated both analytically and numerically. The numerical results show that the Gaussian size distribution of dust particles and the nonadiabatic dust charge fluctuation have strong common influence on the propagation of both linear and nonlinear excitations.     

Nonlinear stage of the Benjamin-Feir instability: three-dimensional coherent structures and rogue waves

A specific, genuinely three-dimensional mechanism of rogue wave formation, in a late stage of the modulational instability of a perturbed Stokes deep-water wave, is recognized through numerical experiments. The simulations are based on fully nonlinear equations describing weakly three-dimensional potential flows of an ideal fluid with a free surface in terms of conformal variables. Spontaneous formation of zigzag patterns for wave amplitude is observed in a nonlinear stage of the instability. If initial wave steepness is sufficiently high (ka>0.06), these coherent structures produce rogue waves. The most tall waves appear in turns of the zigzags. For ka<0.06, the structures decay typically without formation of steep waves.     

Extraordinary-mode radiation produced by linear-mode conversion of langmuir waves

Linear-mode conversion (LMC) of Langmuir waves to radiation near the plasma frequency at density gradients is important for space and astrophysical phenomena. We study LMC in warm magnetized plasmas using numerical electron fluid simulations when the density gradient is parallel to the ambient magnetic field (B0). We demonstrate that LMC can produce extraordinary- (x-) as well as ordinary- (o-) mode radiation from Langmuir waves, contrary to earlier expectations of o mode only. Equal amounts of o- and x-mode radiation are produced in the unmagnetized limit. The x-mode efficiency decreases as B0 increases, while the o-mode efficiency oscillates due to interference between incoming and reflected Langmuir waves. Both x and o modes should be produced for typical coronal and interplanetary parameters, alleviating the depolarization problem for type III solar radio bursts.