Plasma waves in a nonideal plasma

This paper shows how the concepts commonly used for a Debye plasma—Landau damping, collisional damping, short-range and long-range collisions, and plasma waves—must be revised to describe a nonideal electron-ion plasma. The degrees of freedom of a nonideal plasma are divided into collective and individual. The increase and saturation of the fraction of collective degrees of freedom as the coupling constant increases is discussed. The Tatarskii approach for a system of coupled oscillators makes it possible to model the collective degrees of freedom of a nonideal plasma by a set of Langevin oscillators in a thermostat. The correlation energy and the energy of the plasma waves are found. The concepts developed here made it possible to determine the dispersion of the plasma waves and their damping. The effect of damping on the discrepancy between the position of the maximum of the dynamic structure factor and the real part of the solution of the dispersion equation is considered. The effective collision frequency of the individual degrees of freedom (the electrons) is estimated, taking into account both short-range pairwise scattering and scattering at plasma waves. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 880–896 (March 1998)     

Lowering of ionization potentials in a nonideal plasma

Analytical expressions are obtained for the ionization potentials of neutral atoms and ions in the screened Coulomb potential of a nonideal plasma. Among all the chemical elements considered, cesium exhibits the greatest relative lowering of the ionization potentials in comparison with the case of an unscreened interaction. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 45–50 (June 1998)     

Distribution functions of a slightly nonideal multicomponent plasma

A regular perturbation theory technique is constructed using the plasma parameters of the equilibrium Bogolyubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon (BBGKY) equation chain for a multicomponent plasma in which higher order terms are small at all admissable interparticle distances, in contrast to the Debye equations. As a result, two correlation radii appear in a charge-asymmetric plasma: the Debye radius D and 2 D. The divergence of correlation functions characteristic of Debye splitting is eliminated in any order of the perturbation theory. For the proposed theory to be applicable the plasma parameter must be limited more severely, the deeper the depth of the potential well which appears upon approach of oppositely charged ions.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 5, pp. 53–58, May, 1988.     

Ordered structures in a nonideal dusty glow-discharge plasma

The formation of ordered structures of charged macroparticles in a constant-current neon glow-discharge plasma is investigated. Experiments were performed with two types of particles: thin-walled glass spheres 50–63 μm in diameter and particles of Al₂O₃, 3–5 μm in diameter. Formation of quasicrystalline structures is observed in the standing strata and in an artificially created double electric layer. The formation of extended filamentary structures of macroparticles in the absence of visible stratification of the positive column has been observed for the first time. The influence of the discharge parameters on the formation of the ordered structures and their melting is examined. The form of the interaction potential between the charged macroparticles is considered, as well as changes in the conditions for maintaining the discharge in the presence of high concentrations of dust particles. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 2030–2044 (December 1997)     

Limiting nonideal metastable supercooled plasma

Direct modeling of the dynamics of a system of many Coulomb particles is applied to analyze the formation stage of a metastable plasma state from an initial, highly nonideal state, and also to consider some properties of this metastable supercooled state. It is shown that relaxation of the average particle kinetic energy may be characterized by a universal dimensionless function and in particular, there is a limiting degree of plasma nonideality which may be achieved in the metastable state, in the absence of any external influence. The calculated pair correlation functions agree with the results of the Debye model, even outside its limits of validity. The time dependence of the total dipole moment of the particle system is investigated. It is shown that oscillations of the total dipole moment are observed. These collective oscillations take place at a frequency slightly below the Langmuir frequency and the oscillations of free and bound electrons are in antiphase. The hypothesis is put forward that recombination relaxation is frozen as a result of interaction between quasibound electrons and Langmuir oscillations of free electrons. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 42–52 (August 1997)     

Kinetic theory of a nonideal plasma: Dispersion relations

The kinetic theory of plasma based on the construction of propagators for the plasma particle distribution function is generalized to the case of a nonideal plasma. This theory is used for calculating the permittivity of a homogeneous nonideal plasma consisting of one species of ions neutralized by the polarized electron background. The dispersion relations are derived for ion-acoustic and low-frequency transverse waves in the plasma.     

Femtosecond laser Fourier transform absorption spectroscopy

A femtosecond mode-locked laser is used for what is believed to be the first time as a broadband infrared source for high-resolution Fourier transform absorption spectroscopy. A demonstration is made with a Cr(4+):YAG laser. The entire nu(1)+nu(3) vibration-rotation band region of acetylene, observed after passing through a single-pass 80-cm-long cell, is simultaneously recorded between 1480 and 1600 nm, in 7.9 s with a signal-to-noise ratio equal to 1000. Two hot bands of the most abundant acetylene isotopologue and the nu(1)+nu(3) band of the (13)C(12)CH(2) are also present. Replacement of the usual conventional tungsten lamp by the bright laser source reduces by about a factor of 150 the recording time needed to get similar results. The noise equivalent absorption coefficient at 1 s averaging is equal to 7x10(-7) cm(-1)Hz(-1/2) per spectral element.     

Degeneration of electrons in nonideal plasma

The Monte-Carlo method was used for studying the influence of the plasma nonideality on the degeneration of the electrons. Comparison with analytical results was made for a weakly nonideal plasma.     

On the theory of nonlinear response in a nonideal plasma

A theory of nonlinear response is developed for studying nonlinear phenomena and nonlinear transport processes in nonideal Coulomb systems. Temporal plasma echo and transformation of waves in a nonideal Coulomb system are studied on the basis of the theory of nonlinear response to mechanical perturbations. General constraints imposed on nonlinear response functions are considered, and the model for determining quadratic response functions is formulated. The conditions for the emergence of temporal plasma echo and wave transformation are determined. It is shown that these nonlinear effects in a nonideal plasma can be initiated by ultrashort field pulses. A theory of transport is developed for determining the Burnett transport properties of a nonideal multielement plasma. A procedure is proposed for comparing the phenomenological conservation equations for a charged continuous medium and equations of motion for the operators of corresponding dynamic variables. The Mori algorithm is used for deriving the equations of motion for operators of dynamic variables in the form of generalized Langevin equations. The linearized Burnett approximation is considered in detail. The properties of the matrices of coefficients of higher-order derivatives in the system of conservation equations in the linearized Burnett approximation, which are important for hydrodynamic applications, are discussed. Various versions of the theory of nonlinear response are compared.     

Three-particle correlations in nonideal dusty plasma

Results are given of experimental investigation of three-particle correlations for liquid plasma-dust structures formed in the electrode layer of a high-frequency capacitive discharge. The obtained three-particle correlation functions for experimental and numerical data are analyzed and compared with the superposition approximation. The forming of clusters of macroparticles in plasma-dust systems being analyzed is revealed.     

Rydberg matter as a metastable state of strongly nonideal plasma

The phase diagram of cesium is complemented by an isolated region of metastable states of a strongly nonideal plasma.     

Free energy of nonideal two-component thermal plasma

The free energy of nonideal two-component thermal plasma is calculated using the Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The possibility of the existence of a metastable state is shown for a component of heavy multicharged particles with particle charge values bounded from below and plasma temperature values bounded from above. The component of oppositely-charged light singly-charged particles and plasma generally do not feature the metastable state.     

Holographic interferometry and the fractional Fourier transformation

The fractional Fourier transform (FRT) is shown to be of potential use in analyzing the motion of a surface by use of holographic interferometry. The extra degree of freedom made available by the use of the FRT allows information regarding both translational and tilting motion to be obtained in an efficient manner.     

Pressure-produced ionization of nonideal plasma in a megabar range of dynamic pressures

The low-frequency electrical conductivity of strongly nonideal hydrogen, helium, and xenon plasmas was measured in the megabar range of pressures. The plasmas in question were generated by the method of multiple shock compression in planar and cylindrical geometries, whereby it was possible to reduce effects of irreversible heating and to implement a quasi-isentropic regime. As a result, plasma states at pressures in the megabar range were realized, where the electron concentration could be as high as n _e ≈2×0²³ cm^?3, which may correspond to either a degenerate or a Boltzmann plasma characterized by a strong Coulomb Γ _D =1–10) and a strong interatomic Γ _a =r _a n _a ^1/3 ～1) interaction. A sharp increase (by three to five orders of magnitude) in the electrical conductivity of a strongly nonideal plasma due to pressure-produced ionization was recorded, and theoretical models were invoked to describe this increase. Experimental data available in this region and theoretical models proposed by various authors are analyzed. The possibility of a first-order “phase transition” in a strongly nonideal plasma is indicated.     

Express interferometry of dense plasma

An express method of diagnostics of a wide class of plasma objects (including dense plasma) with high spectral and spatial resolution is suggested, which allows measurement of spectral line widths comparable with the free spectral interval of a Fabry—Perot interferometer. The proposed method is characterized by sufficient accuracy even with considerable broadening of spectral lines. Kiev T. Shevchenko University, Ukraine. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 64, No.6, pp. 813–817, November–December, 1997.     

Double Fourier interferometry with IR single-mode fiber optics

An implementation of double Fourier interferometry with IR single-mode, all-fiber optics is described, in which the optical path difference modulations and beam combinations are performed within waveguides. A laboratory prototype is presented, and the first experimental results that prove the validity of the concept.     

Three-particle recombination coefficient of a weakly nonideal ultracold plasma in a high magnetic field

An expression for the recombination coefficient α _B in a weakly nonideal ultracold plasma in a high magnetic field has been proposed. According to this expression, α _B ∼ T _e ^−1.5 B ⁻², where T _e is the temperature of electrons and B is the strength of the magnetic field. Comparison of calculated values with experimental data including the results of the recent experiments on recombination in antihydrogen confirms the theoretical dependence.