Reconnection Rate in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection under Open Boundary Conditions

Collisionless magnetic reconnection is studied by using two-dimensional Darwin particle-in-cell simulations with different types of open boundary conditions. The simulation results indicate that reeonneetion rates are strongly dependent on the imposed boundary conditions of the magnetic field Bx in the inward side. Under the zerogradient Bx boundary condition, the reconnection rate quickly decreases after reaching its maximum and no steady-state is found. Under both electromagnetic and magnetosonie boundary conditions, the system can reach a quasi-steady state. However, the reconnection rate Er ≈ 0.08 under the electromagnetic boundary condition is weaker than Er ≈ 0.13 under the magnetosonic boundary condition.     

Generation of Electric Field and Net Charge in Hall Reconnection

Generation of Hall electric field and net charge associated initial conditions of plasma density and magnetic field. with magnetic reconnection is studied under different With inclusion of the Hall effects, decoupling of the electron and ion motions leads to the formation of a narrow layer with strong electric field and large net charge density along the separatrix. The asymmetry of the plasma density or magnetic field or both across the current sheet will largely increase the magnitude of the electric field and net charge. The results indicate that the asymmetry of the magnetic field is more effective in producing larger electric field and charge density. The electric field and net charge are always much larger in the low density or/and high magnetic field side than those in the high density or/and low magnetic field side. Both the electric field and net charge density are linearly dependent on the ratios of the plasma density or the square of the magnetic field across the current sheet. For the case with both initial asymmetries of the magnetic field and density, rather large Hall electric field and charge density are generated.     

Dynamic nature of the ion wake in dusty plasmas

The dynamic nature of the ion wake formed downstream a dust particle immersed in a plasma with flowing ions has been investigated via Particle-in-Cell simulation. It is found that the wake oscillates in time and the motion is characterized by some dominant frequencies. By means of signal processing analysis, three harmonics are detected (two at low frequencies and one at high frequencies) and compared to the characteristic plasma frequencies given by the dispersion relations for ions and electrons. Good matching is found between the high frequency harmonic and the electron plasma frequency, and between the low frequency harmonics and the ion acoustic and ion plasma frequencies.     

Experimental Investigation on Low Magnetic Field Operation of an Overmoded Slow-Wave High-Power Microwave Generator

The experimental results of an overmoded slow-wave high-power microwave generator operated at low magnetic field are presented. The feasibility of low magnetic field operation is investigated both theoretically and experimentally based on the characteristics of the overmoded slow-wave device. The experiments were carried out at the Spark-2 accelerator. Under the condition of guiding magnetic field strength of 0.55 T, diode voltage of 4 74 k V,and beam current of 5.2kA, a microwave was generated with power of 510 MW, mode of TM01, and frequency of 9.54 GHz. The relative half-width of the frequency spectrum is less than 1%, and the beam-to-microwave efficiency is about 21% in our experiments.     

Electron Acceleration by Small-Amplitude Solitary Kinetic Alfven Wave in a Low-Beta Plasma

In the case of a low beta plasma β 〈〈 me/mi, the electron acceleration by small amplitude solitary kinetic Alfvén wave is studied. It is found that the electron can be only accelerated along the ambient magnetic field. The maximum velocity of accelerated electron approaches to twice Alfvén velocity. In the perpendicular direction, the dc electric field acceleration term and surfing acceleration term almost cancel each other out.     

Non-Uniformity of Ion Implantation in Direct-Current Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation

A particle-in-cell simulation is developed to study dc plasma immersion ion implantation. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the voltage applied to the target on the ion path, and the ion flux distribution on the target surface. It is found that the potential near the aperture within the plasma region is not the plasma potential, and is impacted by the voltage applied to the implanted target. A curved equipotential contour expands into the plasma region through the aperture and the extent of the expansion depends on the voltage. Ions accelerated by the electric field in the sheath form a beam shape and a flux distribution on the target surface, which are strongly dependent on the applied voltage. The results of the simulations demonstrate the formation mechanism of the grid-shadow effect, which is in agreement with the result observed experimentally.     

Enhancement of the guide field during the current sheet formation in the three-dimensional magnetic configuration with an X line

Results are presented from studies of the formation of current sheets during exciting a current aligned with the X line of the 3D magnetic configuration, in the CS-3D device. Enhancement of the guide field (parallel to the X line) was directly observed for the first time, on the basis of magnetic measurements. After the current sheet formation, the guide field inside the sheet exceeds its initial value, as well as the field outside. It is convincingly demonstrated that an enhancement of the guide field is due to its transportation by plasma flows on the early stage of the sheet formation. The in-plane plasma currents, which produce the excess guide field, are comparable to the total current along the X line that initiates the sheet itself.     

Study of plasma—solid interaction in electronegative gas mixtures

Low-temperature reactive plasmas employing electronegative gases are often used in modern technologies. Negative ions in such plasmas affect the transport of charged species and in this way influence the processes in the boundary layer between plasma and surface of metal substrate or probe. The contribution presents results of the computer experiment describing the interaction of electronegative plasma with immersed substrates. The method of solution was the particle simulation technique and several approximations were used; the most important was the simplified geometry of substrates. The simulation is based on experimental data obtained in a dc glow discharge in mixtures of oxygen with rare gases. This work is a part of the research plan MSM0021620834 that is financed by the Ministry of Education of Czech Republic.     

Numerical Investigation of Finite k Effect on Damping Rate of Geodesic Acoustic Mode in Collisionless Plasmas

Numerical method is applied to the investigation of the GAM damping rate with the finite k effects included. It is found that generally the damping rate given by the analytical method is smaller than that given by the numerical method, and the analytical damping rate has good approximation in the high q region （q 〉 4）. The difference between the analytical and numerical damping rates increases with the increasing kpi. However, for the short-wavelength case （kpi = 0.2）, the analytical methods are only good enough around q = 4 because of the slow convergence of Bessel function with the large variable.     

Nonlinear Evolution of Lower-Hybrid Drift Instability in Harris Current Sheet

We perform 2.5-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to investigate the nonlinear evolution of the lower hybrid drift instability (LHDI) in Harris current sheet. Due to the drift motion of electrons in the electric field of the excited low hybrid drift (LHD) waves, the electrons accumulate at the outer layer, and therefore there is net positive charge at the inner edge of the current sheet. This redistribution of charge can create an electrostatic field along the z direction, which then modifies the motions of the electrons along the y direction by E×B drift. This effect strongly changes the structure of the current sheet.     

Characteristics of Wave--Particle Interaction in a Hydrogen Plasma

We study the characteristics of cyclotron way,particle interaction in a typical hydrogen plasma. The numerical calculations of minimum resonant energy Emin, resonant wave frequency ω, and pitch angle diffusion coefficient Dαα for interactions between R-mode/L-mode and electrons/protons are presented. It is found that Emin decreases with ω for R-mode/electron, L-mode/proton and L-mode/electron interactions, but increase with ω for R-mode/proton interaction. It is shown that both R-mode and L-mode waves can efficiently scatter energetic （10 keV-100 keV） electrons and protons and cause precipitation loss at L = 4, indicating that perhaps waveparticle interaction is a serious candidate for the ring current decay.     

Simulation and Experimental Research of a Novel Vircator

A new configuration of an axially-extracted vircator with three resonant cavities is put forward and optimized by simulation with the PIC code. The output power of over 1 GW is obtained at around 4.1 GHz in the experiment, in agreement well with the PIC simulation results. The beam to wave power conversion efficiency is more than 6.6%.     

Numerical Simulation on Expansion Process of Ablation Plasma Induced by Intense Pulsed Ion Beam

We present a one-dimensional time-dependent numerical model for the expansion process of ablation plasma induced by intense pulsed ion beam （IPIB）. The evolutions of density, velocity, temperature, and pressure of the ablation plasma of the aluminium target are obtained. The numerical results are well in agreement with the relative experimental data. It is shown that the expansion process of ablation plasma induced by IPIB includes strongly nonlinear effects and that shock waves appear during the propagation of the ablation plasma.     

Mechanism of Striation in Dielectric Barrier Discharge

The mechanism of striations in dielectric barrier discharge in pure neon is studied by a two-dimensional particle- in-cell/Monte Carlo collision （PIC-MCC） model. It is shown that the striations appear in the plasma background, and non-uniform electrical field resulting from ionization and the negative wall charge appear on the dielectric layer above the anode. The sustainment of striations is a non-local kinetic effect of electrons in a stratified field controlled by non-elastic impact with neutral gases. The striations in the transient dielectric barrier discharge are similar to those in dc positive column discharge.     

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.     

Effect of Elongation on Critical Gradient for Toroidal Electron Temperature Gradient Modes

The electron temperature gradient mode is investigated in elongated toroidal plasmas with a gyrokinetic integral eigenmode equation code. Dependence of the critical electron temperature gradient on the elongation is calculated. It is found that when the elongation increases, the growth rate spectrum is greatly shifted towards shorter poloidal wavelength, and then the poloidal wavenumber at which the mode is destabilizing critically in elongated plasmas will be larger than that in circular plasmas.     

Investigation of an S-Band Tapered Magnetically Insulated Transmission Line Oscillator

We present an improved structure of the tapered magnetically insulated transmission fine oscillator （MILO）. Simulation results show that this structure can obtain more microwave power with higher efficiency. Studies indicate that the distance between the load support legs and the last vane can affect the operation characteristics of this device. In the experiments, we obtain microwave with peak power of 2 GW, frequency of 2.63 GHz, and mode TMol. The beam to microwave power efficiency is 11%.     

Bounce-averaged Pitch-angle Diffusion by Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves in Multi-ion Plasmas

We present a study on the gyroresonant interaction particles in multi-ion （H^＋, He^＋, and O^＋） plasmas between electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves and ring current We provide a first evaluation of the bounce-averaged pitch angle diffusion coefficient 〈Dαα〉 for three typical energies of 50, 100 and 150keV at L ≈ 3.5, the heart of the symmetrical ring current. We show that in the H^＋-band and He^＋-band, 〈Dαα〉 can approach - 10^-4 s^-1 for ion H^＋, and - 5 × 10^-5 s^-1 /or ion He^＋; meanwhile, in the O^＋-band, 〈Dαα〉 can reach - 10^-5 s^-1 for ions He^＋ and O^＋. The results above show that the EMIC wave can efficiently produce precipitation loss of energetic （- 100 keV） ions （H^＋, He^＋ and even O^＋）, and such a wave tends to be a serious candidate responsible for the ring current decay.     

Dynamics of fully nonlinear drift wave-zonal flow turbulence system in plasmas

We present numerical simulations of fully nonlinear drift wave-zonal flow (DW-ZF) turbulence systems in a nonuniform magnetoplasma. In our model, the drift wave (DW) dynamics is pseudo-three-dimensional (pseudo-3D) and accounts for self-interactions among finite amplitude DWs and their coupling to the two-dimensional (2D) large amplitude zonal flows (ZFs). The dynamics of the 2D ZFs in the presence of the Reynolds stress of the pseudo-3D DWs is governed by the driven Euler equation. Numerical simulations of the fully nonlinear coupled DW-ZF equations reveal that short scale DW turbulence leads to nonlinear saturated dipolar vortices, whereas the ZF sets in spontaneously and is dominated by a monopolar vortex structure. The ZFs are found to suppress the cross-field turbulent particle transport. The present results provide a better model for understanding the coexistence of short and large scale coherent structures, as well as associated subdued cross-field particle transport in magnetically confined fusion plasmas.     

Short Wavelength Ion Temperature Gradient Driven Instability in Noncircular Flux Surface Plasmas with Finite Aspect Ratio

By employing the local equilibrium of shaped tokamak plasmas, a gyrokinetic model with integral eigenmode equations is developed to investigate effects of the finite aspect ratio and noncircular flux surface on short wavelength ion temperature gradient （SWITG） driven modes. It is found that when nonadiabatic electron and trapped particle effects are not considered, the SWITG mode can be stabilized by finite aspect ratio A, elongation and triangularity δ, and can be destabilized by the Shafranov shift gradient θRo/θr.