Current-driven electron drift solitons

The soliton formation by the current-driven drift-like wave is investigated for heavier ion (such as barium) plasma experiments planned to be performed in future. It is pointed out that the sheared flow of electrons can give rise to short scale solitary structures in the presence of stationary heavier ions. The nonlinearity appears due to convective term in the parallel equation of motion and not because of temperature gradient unlike the case of low frequency usual drift wave soliton. This higher frequency drift-like wave requires sheared flow of electrons and not the density gradient to exist.     

Dust Sheared Flow Driven Instability of Dust Drift Waves in a Nonuniform Magnetoplasma

We investigate instability of dust drift waves in a nonuniform dusty magnetoplasma containing transverse sheared plasma flow that is produced by a nonuniform electric field. By using Boltzmann distributed electrons and ions, Poisson’s equation, as well as the dust continuity equation with perpendicular guiding center dust drift speed, we derive an eigenvalue equation, which strongly depends on the profiles of dust sheared flow and dust density gradient. The eigenvalue equation is analytically solved to obtain expressions for the growth rate and threshold of a convective instability arising from resonant interactions between the dust drift waves and sheared flows. The result may be relevant to the understanding of short wavelength (in comparison with the ion gyroradius) electrostatic fluctuations in magnetized plasmas of Saturn rings and in cometary tails. PACS numbers: 52.27.Lw; 52.35.Fp     

Quasiparticle approach to the modulational instability of drift waves coupling to zonal flows

The interaction between broadband drift mode turbulence and zonal flows has been studied through the wave-kinetic approach. Simulations have been conducted in which a particle-in-cell representation is used for the quasiparticles, while a fluid model is employed for the plasma. The interactions have been studied in a plasma edge configuration which has applications in both tokamak physics and magnetopause boundary layer studies. Simulation results show the development of a zonal flow through the modulational instability of the drift wave distribution, as well as the existence of solitary zonal flow structures about an ion gyroradius wide, drifting towards steeper relative density gradients.     

EDGE REYNOLDS STRESS STRUCTURE OF LOWER HYBRID WAVE INJECTION IN THE HL—1M PLASMA

The radial profiles of electrostatic Reynolds stress,plasma poloidal rotations,radial and poloidal electric fields have been measured in the plasma boundary region on the HL-1M tokamak using a multi-array of Mach/Langmuir probes.During experiments of lower hybrid wave current drive,the variations in LHW drive power xill cause changes in the edge electric field,poloidal rotation veloity and Reynolds stress.The results indicate that sheared poloidal flow can be generated in the edge plasma due to radially varied Reynolds stress.     

Observation of turbulent-driven shear flow in a cylindrical laboratory plasma device

An azimuthally symmetric radially sheared plasma fluid flow is observed to spontaneously form in a cylindrical magnetized helicon plasma device with no external sources of momentum input. A turbulent momentum conservation analysis shows that this shear flow is sustained by the Reynolds stress generated by collisional drift turbulence in the device. The results provide direct experimental support for the basic theoretical picture of drift-wave-shear-flow interactions.     

Excitation of ion-acoustic-like waves by subcritical currents in a plasma having equal electron and ion temperatures

The effect of a magnetic-field-aligned plasma flow with a transverse velocity gradient on the excitation of current-driven ion-acoustic-like waves in a plasma having equal electron and ion temperatures (T(e) = T(i)) was investigated experimentally. In agreement with theoretical predictions, the presence of sheared plasma flow substantially reduces the critical electron drift velocity needed to produce the ion-acoustic instability.     

Spontaneous edge <Emphasis Type="Italic">E</Emphasis> × <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> sheared flow development studies in the TJ-II stellarator

The influence of plasma density and edge gradients in the development of perpendicular sheared flow has been investigated in the plasma edge region of the TJ-II stellarator. It has been experimentally observed that the generation of spontaneous perpendicular sheared flow (i.e. the naturally occurring shear layer) requires a minimum plasma density or gradient. It has been found that there is a coupling between the onset of sheared flow development and an increase in the level of plasma edge turbulence; once sheared flow is fully developed the level of fluctuations and turbulent transport slightly decreases whereas edge gradients and plasma density increase. The resulting shearing rate is close to the one required to trigger a transition to improved confinement regimes with reduction of edge turbulence, showing that spontaneous sheared flows and fluctuations keep themselves near marginal stability. Presented at the Workshop “Electric Fields, Structures and Relaxation in Edge Plasmas”, Tarragona, Spain, July 3–4, 2005.     

Ion velocity shear-induced drift wave and momentum transport in non-Maxwellian magnetoplasma flows

We have investigated the diamagnetic flow in a non-uniform partially ionized plasma with non-Maxwellian electron population to explain the dynamics of ion velocity shear-induced low-frequency drift mode and associated instabilities. The dispersion relations are found, and instability threshold conditions are pointed out along with ion-parallel momentum transport due to drift motion with relative phase shift of fluctuating quantities in a non-conservative system. The real frequencies and instability growth rates are studied numerically and illustrated for typical space and laboratory plasmas. This study should be useful in understanding some aspects of low-frequency time-delayed perturbations with sheared flow leading to drift instabilities and cross-field parallel ion momentum transport in nonuniform magnetoplasmas containing a non-Maxwellian electron population.     

Experimental observation of the blob-generation mechanism from interchange waves in a plasma

The mechanism for blob generation in a toroidal magnetized plasma is investigated using time-resolved measurements of two-dimensional structures of electron density, temperature, and plasma potential. The blobs are observed to form from a radially elongated structure that is sheared off by the E x B flow. The structure is generated by an interchange wave that increases in amplitude and extends radially in response to a decrease of the radial pressure scale length. The dependence of the blob amplitude upon the pressure radial scale length is discussed.     

Collisionless Drift Waves Ranging from Current‐Driven,Shear‐Modified,and Electron‐Temperature‐Gradient Modes

The specific history of collisionless drift waves is marked by focusing upon current‐driven, shear‐modified, and electron‐temperature‐gradient modes. Studies of current‐driven collisionless drift waves started in 1977 using the Innsbruck Q machine and was continued over 30 years until 2009 with topics such as plasma heating by drift waves in fusion‐oriented confinement and space/astrophysical plasmas. Superposition of perpendicular flow velocity shear on parallel shear intensively modifies the drift wave characteristics through the variation of its azimuthal structure, where the parallel‐shear driven instability is suppressed for strong perpendicular shears, while hybrid‐ion velocity shear cause unexpected stabilization of the parallel‐shear‐modified drift wave. An electron temperature gradient can be formed easily by control of thermionic electron superimposed on ECR plasma, and is found to excite low‐frequency fluctuation in the range of drift waves (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Internal transport barriers in plasmas with reversed plasma flow

Evidences of internal particle transport barriers have been observed in plasma discharges with reversed plasma flow. To investigate the influence of the radial electric field profile on these barriers, we apply a drift wave map that describe the plasma particle transport and allows the integration of particle drift in the presence of a given electrostatic turbulence spectrum. With this procedure we show that transport barriers due to the shearless flow invariant lines are created inside the plasma. Moreover, by varying the radial electric field profile, we observe the formation and destruction of internal transport barriers constituted by shearless invariant lines, as well as its effects on the transport in the map's phase space. Applicability of our results are discussed for the Texas Helimak, a toroidal plasma device in which the radial electric field can be changed by application of bias potential.     

Dynamic interaction of plasma flow with the hot boundary layer of a geomagnetic trap

The study of the interaction between collisionless plasma flow and stagnant plasma revealed the presence of an outer boundary layer at the border of a geomagnetic trap, where the super-Alfvén subsonic laminar flow changes over to the dynamic regime characterized by the formation of accelerated magnetosonic jets and decelerated Alfvén flows with characteristic relaxation times of 10–20 min. The nonlinear interaction of fluctuations in the initial flow with the waves reflected from an obstacle explains the observed flow chaotization. The Cherenkov resonance of the magnetosonic jet with the fluctuation beats between the boundary layer and the incoming flow is the possible mechanism of its formation. In the flow reference system, the incoming particles are accelerated by the electric fields at the border of boundary layer that arise self-consistently as a result of the preceding wave-particle interactions; the inertial drift of the incoming ions in a transverse electric field increasing toward the border explains quantitatively the observed ion acceleration. The magnetosonic jets may carry away downstream up to a half of the unperturbed flow momentum, and their dynamic pressure is an order of magnitude higher than the magnetic pressure at the obstacle border. The appearance of nonequilibrium jets and the boundary-layer fluctuations are synchronized by the magnetosonic oscillations of the incoming flow at frequencies of 1–2 mHz.     

Linear mechanism of surface gravity wave generation in horizontally sheared flow

An analysis is presented of a linear mechanism of surface gravity wave generation in a horizontally sheared flow in a fluid layer with free boundary. A free-surface flow of this type is found to be algebraically unstable. The development of instability leads to the formation of surface gravity waves whose amplitude grows with time according to a power law. Flow stability is analyzed by using a nonmodal approach in which the behavior of a spatial Fourier harmonic of a disturbance is considered in a semi-Lagrangian frame of reference moving with the flow. Shear-flow disturbances are divided into two classes (wave and vortex disturbances) depending on the value of potential vorticity. It is shown that vortex disturbances decay with time while the energy of wave disturbances increases indefinitely. Transformation of vortex disturbances into wave ones under strong shear is described.     

A new spiky soliton and an explosive mode of the nonlinear driftwave equation

A new type of nonlinear wave modes which occurs in the electrostatic drift waves in an inhomogeneous magnetized plasma is presented. The author predicts the existence of a new type of spiky solitary wave and an explosive mode with a negative potential as stationary solutions of this equation. These solutions are a consequence of a density gradient and not connected with a temperature gradient. These new nonlinear wave solutions appear to make a step forward in the general scheme of nonlinear normal modes for plasma waves. Using these nonlinear wave modes, the author can explain the solitary structure and the explosive event concerning nonlinear drift waves propagating in space     

轴向剪切流对Z箍缩等离子体瑞利-泰勒不稳定性的抑制

利用理想磁流体力学模型对有轴向剪切流的Z箍缩等离子体不稳定性进行了分析。给出了可压缩模型的色散关系,分别对可压缩及不可压缩模型中轴向剪切流对Z箍缩等离子体瑞利-泰勒不稳定性的抑制作用进行了比较,讨论了可压缩性对含有轴向剪切流系统不稳定性的影响。结果表明,可压缩性能够减缓瑞利-泰勒P凯尔文-亥姆霍兹(RTPKH)模扰动的增长,因而使得轴向剪切流对系统不稳定性的抑制作用表现得更为突出。计算结果还说明,在RT不稳定性线性增长阶段,等离子体温度较低,使用可压缩模型能够更真实地描述系统的状态。     

Potential surface waves at the boundary of a metal with a magnetoactive plasma at finite pressure

The propagation of surface-type potential waves along the interfacial boundary of a plasma with an ideally conducting metal in an external magnetic field perpendicular to the boundary is examined. It is shown that a necessary condition for the existence of these waves in the system is a finite gas kinetic pressure. Dispersion relations for these waves and expressions for the penetration depth of the wave fields into the plasma are obtained, and they are studied numerically for various plasma parameters. The frequency region for propagation of these waves is found. It is also shown that in a nonzero external magnetic field a system of this kind has a range of frequencies in which the wave is a generalized surface wave. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 30–33 (November 1999)     

Suppression of Rayleigh-Taylor instability by gyroviscosity and sheared axial flow in imploding plasma pinches

The synergistic stabilizing effect of gyroviscosity and sheared axial flow on the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in Z-pinch implosions is studied by means of the incompressible viscid magneto-hydrodynamic equations.The gyroviscosity(or finite Larmor radius) effects are introduced in the momentum equation through an anisotropic ion stress tensor.Dispersion relation with the effect of a density discontinuity is derived.The results indicate that the short-wavelength modes of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability are easily stabilized by the gyroviscosity effects.The long wavelength modes are stabilized by the sufficient sheared axial flow.However,the synergistic effects of the finite Larmor radius and sheared axial flow can heavily mitigate the Rayleigh-Taylor instability.This synergistic effect can compress the Rayleigh-Taylor instability to a narrow wave number region.Even with a sufficient gyroviscosity and large enough flow velocity,the synergistic effect can completely suppressed the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in whole wave number region.     

Drift motion of domain boundaries in garnet ferrites in an acoustic wave field

The drift motion of a 180° domain boundary in garnet ferrites with two nonequivalent sublattices is studied in an elastic stress field induced by an acoustic wave propagating in the domain boundary plane. The dependences of the drift velocity on the amplitude and polarization of the acoustic wave are obtained, and the drift motion conditions for a strip domain structure are determined.     

HL-1M托卡马克边缘参数和雷诺胁强的径向分布

利用多组马赫/郎缪尔探针测量了HL-1M装置刮离层和边缘静电雷诺胁强，等离子体极向旋转，径向和极向电场的径向分布，在低杂波电流驱动，超声分子束注入，多发弹丸注入和中性束注入实验中，给出了雷诺胁强和极向流的关系。结果表明，由于雷诺胁强的径向变化，托卡马克等离子体可以自发地产生剪切极向流。