Creasing to cratering instability in polymers under ultrahigh electric fields

We report a new type of instability in a substrate-bonded elastic polymer subject to an ultrahigh electric field. Once the electric field reaches a critical value, the initially flat surface of the polymer locally folds against itself to form a pattern of creases. As the electric field further rises, the creases increase in size and decrease in density, and strikingly evolve into craters in the polymer. The critical field for the electrocreasing instability scales with the square root of the polymer's modulus. Linear stability analysis overestimates the critical field for the electrocreasing instability. A theoretical model has been developed to predict the critical field by comparing the potential energies in the creased and flat states. The theoretical prediction matches consistently with the experimental results.     

Instability in magnetic materials with a dynamical axion field

It has been pointed out that axion electrodynamics exhibits instability in the presence of a background electric field. We show that the instability leads to a complete screening of an applied electric field above a certain critical value and the excess energy is converted into a magnetic field. We clarify the physical origin of the screening effect and discuss its possible experimental realization in magnetic materials where magnetic fluctuations play the role of the dynamical axion field.     

EHD convection in dielectric micropolar fluid layer

The onset of instability in a layer of dielectric micropolar fluid under the simultaneous action of an AC electric field and temperature gradient has been investigated. The dispersion relation has been derived and various critical values of non-dimensional Rayleigh number in the fluid layer have been determined. The influence of micropolar viscosity and electric Rayleigh number on the onset of convection has been analyzed. Thermal Rayleigh number has been computed for various values of electric Rayleigh number for the onset of instability. The stabilizing and destabilizing effects of electric Rayleigh number, micropolar viscosity and Prandtl number have been discussed.     

EHD kelvin-helmholtz instability in viscous porous medium permeated with suspended particles

The electrohydrodynamic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of the plane interface between two uniform, superposed viscous and streaming dielectric fluids permeated with suspended particles through porous medium is considered under the influence of a tangential electric field. In the absence of surface tension, it is found that perturbations transverse to the direction of streaming are unaffected by the presence of both streaming and the tangential electric field, if perturbations in the direction of streaming are ignored. For perturbations in all other directions there exists instability for a certain wavenumber range. In the presence of surface tension, it is found that the instability of this system is suppressed by the presence of the tangential electric field. Both the tangential electric field and the surface tension have stabilizing effects and they are able to suppress Kelvin-Helmholtz instability for small wavelength perturbations. The medium porosity reduces the stability range given in terms of a difference in streaming velocities and the electric field effect, while the suspended particles do not affect the above results.     

Temperature and correlation functions in an isolated spin system

The probability distribution of electric field fluctuations in a stationary turbulent state of unstable ion-acoustic waves has been measured. For high instability levels the distribution function is found to be Gaussian. Deviations from the Gaussian shape are observed close to onset of the instability.     

Parametric instabilities produced by a relativistic electron beam in a plasma

The parametric instability driven by the primary spectrum of the hydrodynamic two-stream instability produced by a relativistic electron beam in a plasma is investigated. The saturated level of the primary wave electric field is determined by electron trapping in the potential well of the wave or by the quasilinear beam relaxation process. After saturation, the primary wave collapses by way of the oscillating two-stream instability. The cases of the strong and weak primary electric field in comparison with the thermal energy of a plasma are considered. For a strong field the growth rates of the parametric instability and plasma heating due to the latter are found. Ion heating is not significant in comparison with electron heating (approximately as the cube root of the mass ratio). In a weak field the parametric oscillating two-stream spectrum of saturation is found. In the one-dimensional case this spectrum of electric field energy fluctuations varies as k⁻² if the fluctuation field exceeds the threshold pump electric field for the oscillating two-stream instability. For the weak field plasma heating rate is found. Since the energy transfer is via Landau damping, the particle heating is characterized by the formation of high-energy tails on the distribution function.     

Thermal instability of a reconnecting current layer as a trigger for solar flares

The stability of small perturbations of a reconnecting current layer (CL) in a plasma with a strong magnetic field has been investigated in the approximation of dissipative magnetohydrodynamics. The case where the wavevector of the perturbations is parallel to the electric current in the CL has been considered. The suppression of plasma heat conduction by a magnetic field perturbation inside the CL is shown to be responsible for the instability. At the linear stage of instability development, the perturbations grow with the characteristic radiative plasma cooling time calculated in the approximation of an optically thin plasma with cosmic abundances of elements. The formation of a periodic structure of cold and hot magnetic flux tubes, viz., filaments, located across the direction of the electric current, should be expected at the nonlinear stage of the instability in the CL. The proposed mechanism of the thermal CL instability can explain the sequential brightening (ignition) in the arcades of magnetic loops in solar flares.     

阴极微凸起形状对热不稳定性的影响

为了研究阴极微凸起形状对其热不稳定性的影响,采用数值模拟方法研究了不同外加电场条件下,圆柱、圆台和圆锥形等不同形状微凸起的热不稳定性发展过程。结果显示:对于不同形状的微凸起,当微凸起顶部温度达到阴极材料的熔点时,微凸起内部温度分布差异显著,随着微凸起形状由圆柱-圆台-圆锥形变化,微凸起内部温度接近材料熔点的部位越来越少;外加电场相同时,微凸起形状越接近圆锥形,爆炸电子发射延迟时间越长;在阴极表面电场强度高于11 GV/m时,爆炸电子发射延迟时间随着微凸起顶底半径比值的减小或阴极表面电场强度的下降近似成指数规律增长。     

阴极微凸起形状对热不稳定性的影响

为了研究阴极微凸起形状对其热不稳定性的影响,采用数值模拟方法研究了不同外加电场条件下,圆柱、圆台和圆锥形等不同形状微凸起的热不稳定性发展过程。结果显示:对于不同形状的微凸起,当微凸起顶部温度达到阴极材料的熔点时,微凸起内部温度分布差异显著,随着微凸起形状由圆柱-圆台-圆锥形变化,微凸起内部温度接近材料熔点的部位越来越少;外加电场相同时,微凸起形状越接近圆锥形,爆炸电子发射延迟时间越长;在阴极表面电场强度高于11 GV/m时,爆炸电子发射延迟时间随着微凸起顶底半径比值的减小或阴极表面电场强度的下降近似成指数规律增长。     

External electric field induced modulation instability of an electromagnetic beam in two-photon photorefractive materials

The modulation instability of a broad electromagnetic beam in a biased two-photon photovoltaic photorefractive material, due to two-photon-photorefractive effect has been investigated. The one-dimensional modulation instability growth rate has been estimated under the linear stability framework. The behavior of the gain spectrum is different in low and high power regions. It has been predicted that, with the application of external electric field, it is possible to initiate and control growth of the instability in those media, where modulation instability was hitherto prohibited. The influence of different system parameters on the instability growth rate has been examined.     

Electron delocalization and multifractal scaling in electrified random chains

The electron localization property of a random chain changing under the influence of a constant electric field has been studied. We have adopted the multifractal scaling formalism to explore the possible localization behavior in the system. We observe that the possible localization behavior with the increase of the electric field is not systematic and shows strong instabilities associated with the local probability variation over the length of the chain. The multifractal scaling study captures the localization aspects along with the strong instability when the electric field is changed by infinitesimal steps for a reasonably large system size.     

Electrogravitational stability of oscillating streaming fluid cylinder

The electrogravitational instability of on oscillating streaming fluid cylinder under the action of the selfgravitating, capillary and electrodynamic forces has been discussed. The model is governed by the Mathieu second order integro-differential equation. Some limiting cases are recovering from the present general one. The capillary force is destabilizing in a small axisymmetric domain 0<x<1 and stabilizing otherwise. In the absence of electric fields, we found that the model is unstable in a small domain while it is selfgravitating stable in all other domains. The presence of the electric field led to the presence of a great number of stable waves. The electric field has a strong stabilizing influence on the selfgravitating instability of the model. The capillary force has a strong destabilizing influence on the selfgravitating instability of the model.Generally, the uniform stream supports the unstable waves, while the oscillating streaming has stability tendency.     

Helical instability of a semiconductor plasma in silicon wafers at 77 K

This paper reports an analysis of the experimental results on how the threshold electric field intensity required to excited helical instability of a semiconductor plasma in wafers of p-silicon depends on the magnitude of magnetic induction. Also cited are data on the dependence of the threshold frequency on electric field intensity. The variations of the amplitude of the alternating current, caused by the development of helical instability, with electric field intensity and magnetic induction well above the instability excitation threshold are examined.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 8, pp. 54–60, August, 1991.     

Parametric excitation of acoustic waves in piezoelectric solid state magnetoplasma

Absolute instability of the acoustic wave (excited parametrically) has been explored on the basis of the Bers and Briggs criterion in the presence of a large transverse static magnetic field. In the magnetoplasma threshold the electric field decreases to about 0.4 times the value at zero magnetic field.     

Electrocapillary instability of a conducting liquid cylinder

The electrocapillary instability of a conducting liquid cylinder is analyzed. Exact solutions to the linearized Navier-Stokes equations are examined. Growth rates are found for several unstable modes, including both axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric ones. Special attention is given to the electric field effects on the temporal growth and length scales of unstable modes. It is shown that, whereas capillary instability is axisymmetric in the absence of electric field, nonaxisymmetric surface modes also become unstable in a nonzero electric field, growing with time. With increasing electric field strength, azimuthal modes are “switched on” (begin to grow with time) sequentially and the highest temporal growth rate monotonically increases.     

Hot carrier drift induced EM wave instability in a magnetoactive solid state plasma

The effect of a strong longitudinal static electric field on the propagation and instability of transverse circularly polarised EM waves (left and right handed) in the presence of a static magnetic field along the direction of propagation in an InSb plasma has been studied under hot carrier conditions by a phenomenological approach. The results show the possibility of existence of wave instabilities for a wide range of system parameters. The growth rate decreases with the heating d.c. electric field and increases slightly with the static magnetic field.     

Interplay of parallel electric field and trapped electrons in kappa-Maxwellian auroral plasma for EMEC instability

In this paper, propagation characteristics of electromagnetic electron cyclotron(EMEC) waves based on kappa-Maxwellian distribution have been investigated to invoke the interplay of the electric field parallel to the Earth's magnetic field and auroral trapped electrons. The dispersion relation for EMEC waves in kappa-Maxwellian distributed plasma has been derived using the contribution of the parallel electric field and trapped electron speed. Numerical results show that the presence of the electric field has a stimulating effect on growth rate, which is more pronounced at low values of wave number. It is also observed that as the threshold value of trapped electron speed is surpassed, it dominates the effect of the parallel electric field and EMEC instability is enhanced significantly. The electric field acts as another source of free energy, and growth can be obtained even in the absence of trapped electron drift speed and for very small values of temperature anisotropy. Thus the present study reveals the interplay of the parallel electric field and trapped electron speed on the excitation of EMEC waves in the auroral region.     

Role of magnetic shear on the electrostatic current driven ion-cyclotron instability in the presence of parallel electric field

Recent observation and theoretical investigations have led to the significance of electrostatic ion cyclotron (EIC) waves in the electrodynamics of acceleration process. The instability is one of the fundamental of a current carrying magnetized plasma. The EIC instability has the lowest threshold current among the current driven instabilities. On the basis of local analysis where inhomogeneities like the magnetic shear and the finite width current channel, have been ignored which is prevalent in the magnetospheric environment. On the basis of non-local analysis interesting modification has been incorporated by the inclusion of magnetic shear. In this paper we provide an analytical approach for the non-local treatment of current driven electrostatic waves in presence of parallel electric field. The growth rate is significantly influenced by the field aligned electron drift. The presence of electric field enhances the growth of EIC waves while magnetic shear stabilizes the system.     

Parametric excitation of hybrid mode in magnetised piezoelectric semiconductors

Using the hydrodynamic model of homogeneous plasma, the parametric decay of a laser beam into an acoustic wave and another electromagnetic wave has been studied in heavily dopedn-type piezoelectric semiconductors in the presence of a transverse magnetostatic field. This decay process results in the parametric excitation of the hybrid mode. The threshold electric field necessary for the onset of instability equals to zero. The magnetostatic field couples the acoustic and the electromagnetic waves and in its absence the instability disappears. The growth rate increases with the square of the magnetic field.     

Stability of magnetopause boundary and generation of long period geomagnetic pulsations

The effect of irrotational electric field and tensorial plasma conductivity on the growth rate of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability has been investigated. It is shown that the presence of irrotational electric field alters the growth rate. The dependence of Pedersen conductivity on the growth rate has been shown. The Kelvin-Helmholtz perturbations generate a surface wave in the frozen-in plasma. The propagation of these waves gives rise to polarization of the transverse hydromagnetic pulsations. It is shown that the modified K-H spectrum would result in a corresponding change in polarization features of the hydromagnetic pulsations.