Bifurcation and Relaxation Oscillations in Divertor Plasmas

This paper presents a contribution to bifurcation phenomena in scrape-off layer modelling. The bifurcations are caused by the non-monotonic temperature behaviour of the radiation characteristics of plasma impurities. Low-frequency relaxation oscillations observed in divertor plasmas of the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak are analyzed and computed using a simple model for the dynamics of the impurity density and the electron temperature. The corresponding model equations are a special case of a general system of transport equations whose stability is analyzed. Bifurcations are calculated by solving autonomous and parametrically driven model equations.     

Electrostatic Solitary Waves in Pair-ion Plasmas with Trapped Electrons

Electrostatic solitons in an unmagnetized pair-ion plasma comprising adiabatic fluid positive and negative ions and non-isothermal electrons are investigated using both arbitrary and small amplitude techniques. An energy integral equation involving the Sagdeev potential is derived, and the basic properties of large amplitude solitary structures are investigated. Various features of solitons differ in different existence domains. The effects of ion adiabaticity, particle concentration, and resonant electrons on the profiles of Sagdeev potential and corresponding solitary waves are investigated. The generalized Korteweg-de Vries equation with mixed-nonlinearity is derived by expanding the Sagdeev potential. Asymptotic solutions for different orders of nonlinearity are discussed for solitary waves. The present work is applicable to understanding the wave phenomena and associated nonlinear electrostatic perturbations in pair/bi-ion plasmas which may occur in space and laboratory plasmas.     

Bounce-Averaged Acceleration of Energetic Electrons by Whistler Mode Chorus in the Magnetosphere

We construct the bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients and study the bounce-averaged acceleration for energetic electrons in gyroresonance with whistler mode chorus. Numerical calculations have been performed for a band of chorus frequency distributed over a standard Gaussian spectrum specifically in the region near L = 4.5, where peaks of the electron phase space density occur. It is found that whistler mode chorus can efficiently accelerate electrons and can increase the phase space density at energies of about 1 MeV by more than one order of magnitude about one day, in agreement with the satellite observations during the recovery phase of magnetic storms.     

Spin Relaxation of Electrons in Single InAs Quantum Dots

By using polarization-resolved photoluminescence spectra, we study the electron spin relaxation in single InAs quantum dots （QDs） with the configuration of positively charged excitons X＋ （one electron, two holes）. The spin relaxation rate of the hot electrons increases with the increasing energy of exciting photons. For electrons localized in QDs the spin relaxation is induced by hyperfine interaction with the nuclei. A rapid decrease of polarization degree with increasing temperature suggests that the spin relaxation mechanisms are mainly changed from the hyperfine interaction with nuclei into an electron-hole exchange interaction.     

Fractional Resonances between Waves and Energetic Particles in Tokamak Plasmas

From numerical simulation and analytical modeling it is shown that fast ions can resonate with plasma waves at fractional values of the particle drift-orbit transit frequency when the plasma wave amplitude is sufficiently large. The fractional resonances, which are caused by a nonlinear interaction between the particle orbit and the wave, give rise to an increased density of resonances in phase space which reduces the threshold for stochastic transport. The effects of the fractional resonances on spatial and energy transport are illustrated for an energetic particle geodesic acoustic mode but they apply equally well to other types of MHD activity.     

Electron Temperature Relaxation in Afterglow Plasmas: Diffusion Cooling

We have carried out a thorough theoretical analysis of the cooling and heating processes of the electron gas in Ne, Ar and Kr afterglow plasmas. Thus the rate of relaxation of the electron temperature, T_e, is seen to be in good agreement with the experimental measurements when spatial gradients of T_e in the early afterglow and heating of the electron gas by superelastic collisions between the electrons and metastable atoms are accounted for. At low pressures of the rare gases, p_g, the phenomenon of diffusion cooling occurs in which T_e relaxes to an equilibrium temperature, T_ee, which is less than the gas temperature, T_g. This reduction in T_ee below T_g is mirrored in a reduction in the ambipolar diffusion coefficient, D_a, for the rare gas atomic ions and electrons. Thus the D_a can be calculated as a function of p_g using the values of T_ee, and when this is done, properly accounting for the heating by metastable atoms, the calculated and experimental values of D_a in all three rare gas afterglows are seen to be in agreement.     

Resonant Interaction of Energetic Electrons with Radio Emission in the Magnetospheres of Exoplanets

Radiophysics and Quantum Electronics - We analyze the resonant interaction of energetic electrons with radio emission in the magnetospheres of exoplanets using the planet Tau Bootis b as an...     

Modelling Energetic Electrons by a Kappa-Loss-Cone Distribution at Geostationary Orbit

We adopt a recently developed relativistic kappa-loss-cone （KLC） distribution to model energetic electrons energy spectra observed at the geostatlonary orbit in the storm of 3-4 November 1993. The KLU distribution is found to fit well with the observed data from four satellites during different universal times. This suggests that the electron flux obeys the power-law not only at the lower energies but also at the relativistic energies, and the KLU distribution may provide a better understanding of environments in those space plasmas where relativistic electrons are present.     

Spin Noise Spectroscopy in N-GaAs:Spin Relaxation of Localized Electrons

Spin noise spectroscopy(SNS) of electrons in n-doped bulk GaAs is studied as functions of temperature and the probe-laser energy. Experimental results show that the SNS signal comes from localized electrons in the donor band. The spin relaxation time of electrons, which is retrieved from the SNS measurement, depends on the probe light energy and temperature, and it can be ascribed to the variation of electron localization degree.     

Nonlinear Structures in an Ion-Beam Plasmas Including Dust Impurities with Nonthermal Nonextensive Electrons

The properties of dust ion acoustic waves are investigated in an unmagnetized multicomponent plasma system consisting of ion beam, charged positive and negative ions, electrons obeying nonthermal-Tsallis distribution and stationary negatively charged dust grains by the conventional Sagdeev pseudopotential method, through which the condition for existence of several nonlinear structures is analyzed theoretically. The dispersion relation for electrostatic waves is derived and analyzed and an expression of the energy integral equation is obtained. It is reported here that our plasma model supports solitions, double layers and supersoliton solutions for certain range of parameters. Finally, the effects of different physical plasma parameters on these nonlinear structures are studied numerically. The present theory should be helpful in understanding the salient features of the electrostatic waves in space and in laboratory plasmas where two distinct groups of ions and non-Maxwellian distributed electrons are present.     

Coulomb Explosion and Energy Loss of Energetic C20 Clusters in Dense Plasmas

The molecular dynamics （MD） method is used to simulate the interactions of energetic C20 clusters with the dense plasma targets within the framework of the linear Vlasov-Poisson theory. The influences of various clusters （H2, N2, C20 and C60 respectively） on stopping power are discussed. The simulation results show that the vicinage effects in the Coulomb explosion dynamics and the stopping power are strongly affected by the variations in the cluster speed and the plasma parameters. Coulomb explosions are found to proceed faster for higher speeds, lower plasma densities and higher electron temperatures. In addition, the cluster stopping power is strongly enhanced in the early stages of Coulomb explosions due to the vicinage effect, but this enhancement eventually diminishes, after the cluster constituent ions are sufficiently separated. For the large and heavy clusters, the stopping power ratio reaches much higher values in the early stage of Coulomb explosion owing to the constructive interferences in the vicinage effect.     

Cold Electrons from Cryogenic GaAs Photocathodes: Energetic and Angular Distributions

Hyperfine Interactions - For the investigation of electron–ion collisions at the Test Storage Ring with a much enhanced energy resolution a cold electron source with cryogenic GaAs(Cs,O) is...     

On the Conductance Theory of Plasmas

In the framework of the linear response theory a quantumstatistical expression for the conductivity of nonideal plasmas is derived. In a simple approximation the influence of electron-ion scattering and that of masses of equal magnitude on the conductivity is discussed; the latter is expressed in terms of transport collision frequencies.     

On the Thermodynamics of Dense Plasmas

Thermodynamic functions of dense plasmas are determined in terms of the single particle self energy. The latter is expressed in terms of T-matrices of the scattering theory. Explicit evaluations are carried out for the highly degenerate two component plasma.     

The Electron Relaxation to Stationary States in Collision Dominated Plasmas in Molecular Gases

The temporal collision dominated relaxation of electrons to new stationary states, starting from initial stationary states and due to jump-like changes of the electric field, was studied in the plasmas of the molecular gases N₂ and CO. Numerical solving of the time dependent Boltzmann equation for the electrons yields the temporal evolution of their energy distribution function and of resulting macroscopic quantities. The varying relaxation due to different values of the field strength in the final stationary state has been investigated considering the molecules of the plasma only as vibrationally non-excited and, in another case, including the additional impact of collisions with vibrationally excited molecules. The results obtained are discussed and, in particular, the relaxation times found for the transitions to the new stationary states are analysed on the basis of the energy transfer effectiveness by the collision processes. An approximative microphysical basis for the understanding of the main features of the relaxation in such complex molecular gas plasmas could be obtained.     

Effects of Energetic Electrons on Collector and Source Potentials in a Finite Ion Temperature Plasma

Formation of the potential in a two-electron-temperature plasma region facing a floating collector was studied theoretically with a kinetic plasma-sheath model and by electrostatic particle simulation. The electrons were described by truncated full Maxwellian velocity distribution functions and the ions by an accelerated half-Maxwellian velocity distribution function. The collector potential and the plasma source sheath or presheath potential drop were evaluated as functions of the hot to cool electron temperature ratio and the hot electron density ratio using Vlasov and Poison equations. The results showed that the presheath potential drop varied continuously with electron composition ratio for lower values of the electron temperature ratio, while for higher values in a narrow composition ratio range, triple values of the potential were found. Of the two physically acceptable values, the lower was characterized by the cool electrons and the higher by the hot electrons. It is anticipated that a current-free double layer structure is formed in the plasma system between these two potential regions. The collector floating potential, as a function of electron composition ratio, is mainly dominated by the hot electrons, since already a small value of hot electron current is sufficient to compensate the ion saturation current. In order to complete the theoretical investigation we also study the hydrogen plasma system with the XPDP1 particule-in-cell simulation code composed at Berkeley. At certain plasma parameter values formation of a double layer structure was observed. The potential Values on the upper and lower side of the double layer, as well as that of the collector floating potential, corresponded very well to the calculated values. On the upper side the plasma was composed of ions, accelerated through the source sheath potential drop, and electrons consisting of cool full Maxwellian and hot truncated full Maxwellian populations. On the lower side only hot electrons and ions additionally accelerated through the double layer were found.     

Field Free Relaxation of the Electron Component in the Temporally Decaying Molecular Gas Plasmas Hydrogen and Nitrogen

This paper deals with the temporal relaxation of the electron component of weakly ionized, anisothermal and collision dominated plasma in the molecular gases hydrogen and nitrogen after jump-like switching off of the electric field starting from stationary states. The investigation is based upon a solution of the non-stationary Boltzmann equation using a finite difference approach of the resulting partial differential equation. Besides the temporal development of the energy distribution and of some macroscopic quantities of the electrons especially the characteristic relaxation times and their physical nature are discussed and compared with former results on the relaxation in an inert gas plasma.     

On the Boil-Off Time of Probe Surfaces in Plasmas

The time required for the melting of the surface of a glass-insulated probe inserted in a plasma is computed including the influence of plasma mass motion. This effect is relevant for probe measurements in moving current sheaths of electrical gas discharges. For dense plasma focus experiments, it is shown that the time of formation of a transition layer of evaporated material is shorter than the ion relaxation time in the plasma and the transit time of the current sheath by the probe position.     

On the Relevance of Plasma Parameters in Nonideal Plasmas

The use of different plasma models for composition calculations of nonideal plasmas can result in very different electron concentrations for the same experimental situation characterized e.g. by the measured temperature and pressure. This gives rise to misunderstandings at comparison of theoretical and experimental results. For extreme conditions i.e. in the region of the supposed plasma phase transition results of solid state physics give us the possibility to rule out some plasma models.     

Influence of the Miniband Width on the Relaxation Time of Superlattice Electrons Scattered by Impurity Ions

Based on the Boltzmann equation, the influence of the miniband width on the relaxation time of nondegenerate electrons scattered by impurity ions in the GaAs/Al _x Ga_1–x As superlattice with doped quantum wells is numerically analyzed. The wave function being the eigenfunction of the ground state of the lower miniband of the superlattice is used to calculate the scattering probability. The dispersion of the longitudinal and transverse relaxation times versus the longitudinal wave vector is investigated.