Dynamics of electron beams in plasmas

The characteristic features of the relaxation of the energy and momentum distribution functions of the electrons in a plasma produced by a low-voltage beam discharge in helium are investigated. It is established that, contrary to widely held opinion, the energy of an intense electron beam may relax due to the wave excitation. The critical currents corresponding to a jumplike transition from one relaxation mechanism to another are measured. The density of metastable helium atoms is determined from the comparative analysis of theoretical and experimental results on the structure of the energy spectrum of the electrons of an intense beam. An intense electron beam is found to become more isotropic in the course of its interaction with Langmuir waves in a collisionless plasma. The cross section for quasi-elastic collisions between the electrons and Langmuir plasmons is estimated. The wave nature of the beam-plasma mechanism for the relaxation of the anisotropic electron energy distribution function is demonstrated, and the mechanism itself is shown to come into play when the discharge current exceeds a certain critical level. The experimental threshold criterion for the energy relaxation of an intense monoenergetic beam is obtained for the first time. It is shown that the relaxation occurs in two stages: the isotropization stage, in which the beam energy decreases insignificantly, is followed by the stage in which the beam relaxes to a state with a plateau-like energy distribution function. The threshold criterion for the relaxation of the anisotropic electron energy distribution function is universal in character regardless of the cause of anisotropy.