Production of nonisothermal electrons and Langmuir waves because of colliding ion holes and trapping of plasmons in an ion hole

We present new simulation studies exhibiting production of nonisothermal electron distributions and Langmuir waves by colliding ion holes and trapping of plasmons in an ion hole. We find that, during head-on ion hole collisions, streams of accelerated electrons are produced by the electrostatic potentials supporting the ion holes. Subsequently, Langmuir waves are excited by a two-stream instability involving energetic electron beams. The resulting Langmuir waves can be trapped in an ion hole. The present ion-hole-Langmuir wave interactions are unique kinetic phenomena which can be dealt with a Vlasov code, which we developed recently. The results can have relevance to the understanding of particle and field data that are forthcoming from different spacecraft missions in Earth's auroral ionosphere and the magnetosphere.     

Guiding center theory for ion holes in magnetized plasmas

A drift-kinetic theory for ion phase-space vortices in magnetized plasmas is developed, taking into account the effects of the ion polarization and anisotropic heating by ion beams. It provides a theoretical explanation for the bipolar electrostatic structures in the auroral zone of the Earth's magnetosphere and their spatial and temporal scales, as observed by S3-3, Viking, FREJA, Polar, and FAST spacecrafts. Several types of quasi-three-dimensional ion holes are obtained analytically, in the form of either cylinders or ellipsoids. Although topologically different, they produce similar signals on the spacecraft and cannot be distinguished on the basis of the existing satellite data.     

表面等离激元与磁表面等离激元

金属微纳结构体系中的表面等离激元以及磁表面等离激元因其独特的光学特性吸引了研究者们的极大兴趣,成为当前的热点研究领域之一.文章对表面等离激元尤其是磁表面等离激元的特点、基本现象、新颖效应及其应用研究前景的最新发展进行了介绍.     

The privileged spectrum of cnoidal ion holes and its extension by imperfect ion trapping

The fundamental properties of nonlinear ion hole modes propagating in current-driven collisionless plasmas are derived. Making use of Schamel's alternative method their spatial structure $?(x)$ and phase velocities $u_0$ are analyzed and found to depend crucially on the used trapped ion distribution $f_{it}$. A regular $f_{it}$ represents a continuous spectrum, which is called privileged or perfect since it yields a definite $u_0$ and appears most realistic. A singular $f_{it}$, on the other hand, involving jumps and moderate slope singularities at the separatrix, does reveal further classes of hole equilibria at the cost, however, of a well-defined $u_0$. This explains why Bernstein, Greene, Kruskal (BGK)-solutions of the Vlasov–Poisson system, exhibiting a strong slope singularity of their derived trapped particle distribution, can principally not provide definite $u_{0}s$. The nonlinear dispersion relation (or $u_0$) of privileged ion holes, on the other hand, is equivalent with that of cnoidal electron holes, i.e. in addition to the ordinary ion acoustic branch there exists a correspondence to the “Langmuir” branch and to the multiple “slow electron acoustic” branches, reflecting different trapping scenarios.     

Effect of hot ions on ion acoustic solitons and holes

In a two-electron-component plasma, we have investigated the effect of hot ions by retaining the full nonlinearities. Even an extremely small ion temperature can drastically reduce the maximum amplitude for solitons as well as holes.     

Double layers and ion phase-space holes in the auroral upward-current region

The dynamic evolution of the boundary between the ionosphere and auroral cavity is studied using 1D and 2D kinetic Vlasov simulations. The initial distributions of three singly ionized species (H+, O+, e-) are determined from space-based observations on both sides of an inferred strong double layer. The kinetic simulations reproduce features of parallel electric fields, electron distributions, ion distributions, and wave turbulence seen in satellite observations in the auroral upward-current region and, for the first time, demonstrate that auroral acceleration can be driven by a parallel electric field supported, in part, by a quasistable, strong double layer. In addition, the simulations verify that the streaming interaction between accelerated O+ and H+ populations continuously replenished by the double layer provides the free energy for the persistent formation of ion phase-space holes.     

Trapping of positive ions in the electron beam of an ion cyclotron resonance spectrometer

Trapping of positive ions in the space charge of an electron beam is observed in the drift mode of an ion cyclotron resonance spectrometer at emission currents above 1 μA. This phenomenon is evident in two observations not normally seen in the ICR drift mode: (1) the appearance of product ions from ion-molecule reactions at pressure below 5 × 10⁻⁷ torr using moderate drift potentials; and (2) the appearance of fragment ions occurring below thermodynamic threshold arising from electron impact dissociation of precursor parent ions. Trapping efficiency is found to increase with increasing emission current, decreasing electron energy, and decreasing source and trapping plate potentials. The implication of these results are discussed.     

Trapping of ions from high energy sources into a radiofrequency ion trap

An attempt is described to confine ions, created externally and accelerated to some energy, in an rf quadrupole trap. 4 keV Ba⁺ ions were stopped on a Ni foil, placed in an aperture of one trap electrode. The Ba then was evaporated from the heated foil and ionized by electron impact. At background pressure of about 10^–5 mbar of various light buffer gases (He, H₂, N₂), the trap was filled once with 10⁵ ions, at a minimum primary ion number of 10¹⁰. The storage time was 10 min. From the data obtained the possibility of spectroseopic experiments on rare isotopes, created with accelerators or nuclear reactors, is discussed.     

Ar ion laser assisted chemical etching of via holes in tungsten sheets in air

Ar ion laser assisted chemical etching of 150 m thick annealed tungsten sheets in air is reported. The material removal mechanism involves local heating by the laser to temperatures in the range of 1000–1500 °C that causes rapid oxidation of the W to WO₃ which volatilizes readily. Holes with straight walls and slightly enlarged entrances near the surface were drilled with etch rates as high as 11.5 m/s at 13.8 W, and a minimum hole diameter of 21 m at 8.1 W. The diameters of the holes and the etch rates were measured and found to increase as a function of the laser power. It was found that by increasing the laser power above 11–12 W, no change was observed in the hole diameters which remained constant at about 31 m, whereas the etch rates continued to increase even faster than at low powers. Distinct adjacent holes of 25 m diameter could be drilled with their centers separated by as little as 60 m. This is therefore also the etching resolution in the present study.     

Channelling surface plasmons

Channel plasmon polaritons (CPPs) propagating along the bottom of subwavelength grooves cut into a metal surface were recently shown to exhibit strong confinement combined with low propagation loss, a feature that makes this guiding configuration very promising for the realisation of ultracompact photonic components. Here, the results of our investigations of CPP guiding by V-grooves cut into gold are presented, demonstrating efficient large-angle bending and splitting of radiation as well as waveguide-ring resonators and Bragg grating filters. Additionally, we present a simple model based on the effective-index method that accounts for the main features of CPP guiding, thus, providing a clear physical picture of this phenomenon. PACS 73.20.Mf; 71.36.+c; 42.82.-m; 07.79.Fc     

Surface and bulk plasmons in interaction with quantum well inter- and intra-subband plasmons

The collective oscillations of a 2D quantum well electron plasma embedded in a semi-infinite host plasma medium (at a distancez₀from the surface) are analyzed here, based on an explicit inversion of the joint dielectric function of the combined system in position representation in closed form. The coupling ofsurfaceand bulk plasmons of the host medium withintersubband and intrasubband plasmons of the quantum well, and the dependence of the coupled modes onz₀are discussed.     

Bulk plasmons in metal-insulator superlattices

A simple model is proposed to describe the long-wavelength oscillations in metal-insulator super-lattices. In such structures, the frequency range of bulk plasmons is shown to expand substantially as compared to a homogeneous metal and to cover the optical range. Resonances related to such modes are predicted when an electromagnetic wave is reflected by an optically thin superlattice.     

局域表面等离激元

局域表面等离激元使得贵金属纳米颗粒具有丰富的光学性质,其应用涵盖能源、生物医学、安全、信息、超材料等诸多领域。文章简要介绍局域表面等离激元的基本性质、贵金属纳米结构中的局域表面等离激元共振耦合以及具有局域表面等离激元特性的贵金属纳米结构的一些重要应用。     

Short-wavelength plasmons in low-dimensional systems

The dispersion of plasma waves in systems of various dimensions is investigated up to the end point of the spectrum. In 2D and 3D systems, the plasmon spectrum still ends (due to Landau damping) within the applicability range of the quasi-classical approximation, i.e., for ?k ? p _F (?k is the plasmon momentum and p _F is the electron Fermi momentum). In 1D systems, the results are qualitatively different, since the Landau damping is concentrated in a region where the quantum effects cannot be ignored. This peculiarity of 1D systems gives rise to undamped branches of acoustic plasmons with a phase velocity lower than the electron Fermi velocity in multicomponent 1D plasmas.     

Fragile black holes and an angular momentum cutoff in peripheral heavy ion collisions

In collisions of heavy ions at extremely high energies, it is possible for a significant quantity of angular momentum to be deposited into the Quark–Gluon Plasma which is thought to be produced. We develop a simple geometric model of such a system, and show that it is dual, in the AdS/CFT sense, to a rotating AdS black hole with a topologically planar event horizon. However, when this black hole is embedded in string theory, it proves to be unstable, for all non-zero angular momenta, to a certain non-perturbative effect: the familiar planar black hole, as used in most AdS/CFT analyses of QGP physics, is “fragile”. The upshot is that the AdS/CFT duality apparently predicts that the QGP should always become unstable when it is produced in peripheral collisions. However, we argue that holography indicates that relatively low angular momenta delay the development of the instability, so that in practice it may be observable only for peripheral collisions involving favorable impact parameters, generating extremely large angular momenta. In principle, the result may be holographic prediction of a cutoff for the observable angular momenta of the QGP, or perhaps of an analogous phenomenon in condensed matter physics.     

Ultraconfined interlaced plasmons

We describe a mesoscopic excitation in strongly coupled grids of metallic nanorods, resulting from the hybridization of weakly bounded plasmons. It is shown both theoretically and experimentally that the characteristic spatial scale of the interlaced plasmons is determined by geometrical features, rather than from the electrical length of the nanorods, and that due to their wide band nature, weak sensitivity to metallic absorption, and subwavelength mode sizes, such plasmons may have exciting applications in waveguiding in the nanoscale.