Particle in cell simulation of relativistic Buneman instability in a current-carrying plasma

Abstract

Non-linear evolution of the relativistic Buneman instability in a current-carrying plasma is investigated by a particle in cell simulation. These simulations show that as the time progresses, some electrons are trapped in phase space holes and thus counter-streaming and plateau can be formed. Moreover, the electron and ion density profiles indicate a periodic pattern of the density steepening. This density distribution is similar to the generation of the grating-like patterns which strongly depends on the initial electron velocity and saturation time. It is also shown that the electric field profile has the sawtooth form; charged particles can be accelerated by this field. Finally, it is found that increasing the electron velocity increases the saturation time and consequently the growth rate decreases which is in good agreement with the result obtained by the fluid model.     

Relativistic warm plasma waveguide under the effects of plasma electrons and HF electrical field on Buneman instability

The stabilization effect of a strong HF (pump) electrical field and plasma electrons on a two-stream (Buneman) instability in a plane relativistic warm plasma waveguide is investigated; using the separation method to solve the two-fluid plasma model we separate the problem into two parts. The “temporal” (dynamical) part enables us to determine the frequencies and growth rates of unstable waves; this part within the redefinition of natural frequencies coincides with the system describing HF suppression of Buneman instability in uniform unbounded plasma. Natural frequencies of oscillations and spatial distribution of the amplitude of the self-consistent electrical field are determined from the solution of a boundary-value problem (“space part”) taking into account specific spatial distribution of plasma density. Plasma electrons are considered to have a relativistic thermal velocity. It is shown that the growth rate of instability in relativistic warm plasma is reduced compared to non-relativistic (cold or warm) plasma and relativistic cold plasma. In addition, it is found that the plasma electrons have no effect on the solution of the space part of the problem.     

Filamentation Instability in a Current‐Carrying Plasma in the Presence of Quantum Effects

The filamentation instability of a current‐carrying plasma under the diffusion condition is investigated taking into account the Bohm potential and the Fermi electron pressure. Using quantum hydrodynamic equations, the dispersion relation and growth rate of the instability is obtained. It is found that the filamentation instability, in the presence of quantum effects, depends on various characteristic parameters such as: electron Fermi velocity, plasma number density, ion thermal velocity and electron drift velocity. Moreover, the wavelength region in which the instability occurs is more restricted and the minimum size of filaments is larger, in comparison with the classical case. It is also found that the growth rate of the instability is smaller in the presence of quantum effects. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Solar wind driven electrostatic instabilities with generalized (r,q) distribution function

Using Boltzmann–Vlasov kinetic model, a currentless ion acoustic instability driven by stream of solar wind plasma is studied in a non‐thermal distributed electrons and ions. The non‐thermal distribution considered here is the generalized distribution which has low energetic flat‐top and velocity power law tail at higher energies. The instability threshold is found to be affected and depends upon the spectral indices r and q . It is found that the growth rate increases with the decrease in the value of r and increase with q . Moreover, such kinetic instability has also been discussed for three species electron–ion–dust plasma using the generalized (r, q) distribution function. Such case is of interest when the solar wind is streaming through the cometary plasma in the presence of interstellar dust and excites electrostatic instabilities. The dispersion properties and growth rates for ion‐acoustic and dust‐acoustic mode are calculated analytically and plotted for different values of the spectral indices r and q .     

飞秒激光等离子体中电子热传导现象的数值模拟

采用相对论电磁粒子模拟程序研究了飞秒激光等离子体相互作用中产生的电流密度、电场和自生磁场的发展演化过程。介绍了电子的非局域热输运的基本特性以及激光加热过程中温度烧蚀前沿稠密等离子体子区的预热效应、临界面附近的限流效应,以及冕区的反扩散与限流效应,得到了经典Spitzer-Harm理论描述的电子热传导随自生磁场的演化情形。数值模拟表明:在线性强激光作用下,由于电子初始时刻的无规则热运动,在等离子体上激发电磁不稳定性,而不稳定性激发的强电磁场使电子束在非常短的距离内沉积能量,同时对在激光有质动力推开电子时形成的超热电子能量输运产生抑制作用。     

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。     

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.     

Kinetic Nonlinear Buneman's Instability in Field-Free Isothermal Collisonal Plasma

A nonlinear dispersion relation is derived and solved for a 1-D electron-ion two-stream (Buneman) instability excited in an isothermal field-free plasma. The major nonlinear mechanism is the qualilinear modification of the background distribution function. We take into consideration the effect of Coulomb collisions which describes the broadening of the Cherenkov interaction of waves with particles. Nonlinear effects seem to lead, in field-free plasma, to the increase in the current velocity and consequently, to the growth of the instability and a rapid turbulent heating of plasma electrons. The methods used here to solve the Vlasov's kinetic equation may also be used to investigate other types of current micro-instabilities in plasmas.     

Analysis of electron cyclotron emission by lower-hybrid current drive plasmas

Summary Electron cyclotron emission may be used for diagnosing non-thermal electron distribution functions generated by radio-frequency current drive. Our attention is concentrated in theX-mode-downshifted second-harmonic range of frequencies, by inspecting at the radiation collected in the horizontal low-magnetic-field side of a tokamak. The cut-off presence eliminates the thermal first-harmonic emission and the non-thermal one may be observed without other inference. The electron distribution function is modelled by a suitable sum of drifting Maxwellians for reproducing the flat tails usually obtained in the presence of lower-hybrid power injection. This model is time saving as far as the computer simulations are concerned and permits a lot of runs in order to accomplish a wide parameters exploitation. A sensitivity analysis of ECE intensity is performed with respect to the main moments of the suprathermal electrons distribution function. The analysis shown that the radiation spectra are very sensitive to the perpendicular energy and to the number of fast electrons, while only a weak dependence on the parallel energy is found.     

磁层顶中的低混杂漂移不稳定性

本文讨论了具有简单结构磁层顶中的低混杂漂移不稳定性,假定在磁层顶中磁场方向是相互平行的,电子与离子的密度处处相等,总压力为一常数,采用1971年Alpers建立的分布函数做为零级分布,计算了下混杂漂移不稳定性的增长率和饱和时相应的反常电阻,计算表明,当磁层顶厚度接近两个质子迴旋半径时,低混杂漂移不稳定性的增长率约为0.26ω_LH(ω_LH为低混杂频率),反常电阻率为10^-5sec,随着磁层顶厚度成倍增加,反常电阻率以指数形式下降。 关键词：     

Kinetic instability of twisted ion-acoustic mode with superthermal species of plasma

The electrostatic twisted ion-acoustic waves with finite orbital angular momentum states and associated kinetic instability are investigated in an electron-ion plasma. The plasma consisting of superthermal electrons and ions is modeled by using a non-gyrotropic Kappa distribution function in which the free energy source for wave excitation is provided by the relative directed motion of streaming electrons with respect to the ions. In the frame work of kinetic theory, the Vlasov-Poisson equations are employed to derive the expressions for dispersion relation and Landau damping rate under paraxial approximation. The results are analyzed for threshold condition of wave dispersion and instability growth rate in the presence of helical electric field structure. The relevance of study to the observed situations is also described.     

Full-trajectory diagnosis of laser-driven radiative blast waves in search of thermal plasma instabilities

Experimental investigations into the dynamics of cylindrical, laser-driven, high-Mach-number shocks are used to study the thermal cooling instability predicted to occur in astrophysical radiative blast waves. A streaked Schlieren technique measures the full blast-wave trajectory on a single-shot basis, which is key for observing shock velocity oscillations. Electron density profiles and deceleration parameters associated with radiative blast waves were recorded, enabling the calculation of important blast-wave parameters including the fraction of radiated energy, epsilon, as a function of time for comparison with radiation-hydrodynamics simulations.     

无碰撞等离子体中电子束流不稳定性的时空演化研究

应用二、三维相对论电磁粒子模拟程序研究双电子束流在无碰撞等离子体中传播引起的横向 电磁(Weibel类型)不稳定性和纵向静电不稳定性的发展演化过程.讨论了纯粹Weibel不稳定 性的发生和非线性饱和过程，观察到电流束合并、磁场重联等引起的电子横向加热现象.研 究了电流束传播方向激发的静电场对快电子束传播的影响，观察到其导致的束的横向调制、 磁场通道破坏现象.对这些过程的细致研究对更好的理解快点火物理中自生磁场的产生、快 电子输运等过程有重要意义.     

二维双流不稳定性静电粒子模拟

为研究双温电子等离子体中束流不稳定性的演化过程,用二维粒子模拟(PIC)代码对双温电子束流不稳定性进行了模拟,其中泊松方程用松弛迭代法求解,代码满足电荷守恒、动量守恒和能量守恒条件。在电子双流不稳定性的非线性演化过程中,得到相空间的空洞结构,实空间也相应出现了电子空洞。给出了不稳定性增长率以及相应色散关系。     

Cherenkov instability of a magnetized beam-plasma system with allowance for a momentum spread of beam electrons

Cherenkov instability is considered in a completely magnetized homogeneous beam-plasma system featuring a thermal momentum spread of beam electrons. The thermal spread in the beam is described in the scope of both the hydrodynamic approach and the kinetic equation method by giving the electron momentum distribution function in the form of theMaxwellian and semi-Maxwellian distributions. It is shown that two beam-plasma instability regimes, the single-particle and collective Cherenkov effects (Compton and Raman regimes) differing by the physical mechanism and the increments, are possible in a system (waveguide) with homogeneous transverse beam and plasma density profiles. Solutions to dispersion equations for these and a more general regime are obtained and analyzed.     

Fluid dynamics analysis of a gas attenuator for X‐ray FELs under high‐repetition‐rate operation

Newtonian fluid dynamics simulations were performed using the Navier–Stokes–Fourier formulations to elucidate the short time‐scale (µs and longer) evolution of the density and temperature distributions in an argon‐gas‐filled attenuator for an X‐ray free‐electron laser under high‐repetition‐rate operation. Both hydrodynamic motions of the gas molecules and thermal conductions were included in a finite‐volume calculation. It was found that the hydrodynamic wave motions play the primary role in creating a density depression (also known as a filament) by advectively transporting gas particles away from the X‐ray laser–gas interaction region, where large pressure and temperature gradients have been built upon the initial energy deposition via X‐ray photoelectric absorption and subsequent thermalization. Concurrent outward heat conduction tends to reduce the pressure in the filament core region, generating a counter gas flow to backfill the filament, but on an initially slower time scale. If the inter‐pulse separation is sufficiently short so the filament cannot recover, the depth of the filament progressively increases as the trailing pulses remove additional gas particles. Since the rate of hydrodynamic removal decreases while the rate of heat conduction back flow increases as time elapses, the two competing mechanisms ultimately reach a dynamic balance, establishing a repeating pattern for each pulse cycle. By performing simulations at higher repetition rates but lower per pulse energies while maintaining a constant time‐averaged power, the amplitude of the hydrodynamic motion per pulse becomes smaller, and the evolution of the temperature and density distributions approach asymptotically towards, as expected, those calculated for a continuous‐wave input of the equivalent power.     

Film growth mechanisms in pulsed laser deposition

This paper reviews our recent studies of the fundamentals of growth morphology evolution in Pulsed Laser Deposition in two prototypical growth modes: metal-on-insulator island growth and semiconductor homoepitaxy. By comparing morphology evolution for pulsed laser deposition and thermal deposition in the same dual-use chamber under identical thermal, background, and surface preparation conditions, and varying the kinetic energy by varying the laser fluence or using an inert background gas, we have isolated the effect of kinetic energy from that of flux pulsing in determining the differences between morphology evolution in these growth methods. In each growth mode analytical growth models and Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations for thermal deposition, modified to include kinetic energy effects, are successful at explaining much of what we observe experimentally.     

Effect of Flat Top Electron Distribution on the Turbulent Heating of a Plasma

Expressions for anomalous resistivity and energy transfer collision frequency in the presence of ion-acoustic instability have been derived. It is found that the rapid electron heating may be attributed to the flattening of the top of the electron distribution function to a high degree. Results are valid under the situation when krr_c « 1 where τ_c is the correlation time for turbulence.     

Weibel Instability Growth Rate in Magnetized Plasmas with Quasi-Relativistic Distribution Function

The mechanism of the Weibel instability is investigated for dense magnetized plasmas. As we know, due to the electron velocity distribution, the Coulomb collision effect of electron-ion and the relativistic properties play an important role in such study. In this study an analytical expression for the growth rate and the condition of restricting the Weibel instability are derived for low-frequency limit. These calculations are done for the oscillation frequency dependence on the electron cyclotron frequency. It is shown that, the relativistic properties of the particle lead to increasing the growth rate of the instability. On the other hand the collision effects and background magnetic field try to decrease the growth rate by decreasing the temperature anisotropy and restricting the particles movement.