Growth of a Gaussian Laser Ripple on a Gaussian Beam in a Collisionless Magnetoplasma and its Effect on the Excitation of Ion-Acoustic Wave

This paper presents an investigation of the growth of a radially symmetrical ripple, superimposed on a Gaussian laser beam in a collisionless magnetoplasma. Here we have presented the effect of magnetic field and the intensity of the laser beam on the growth of ripple in some detail. The effect of presence of ripple on the excitation of an ion-acoustic wave is also investigated. Coupling of a weak ion-acoustic wave with main laser beam is through modified background density. Interesting feature of the analysis is that the combined effect of increased intensity of the laser beam and magnetic field is observed to suppress the growth of the ripple as well as the excitation of the ion-acoustic wave.     

Orthogonal interaction of bernstein mode with ion-acoustic wave through plasma maser effect

Interaction of Bernstein mode wave with ion-acoustic turbulence is treated as the plasma maser effect. Ion-acoustic turbulence is considered as resonant mode, propagating orthogonal to the test Bernstein mode. The external magnetic field, in the direction of ion-acoustic turbulence, is playing key role in transferring energy in upconversion process from resonant low frequency wave to the high frequency wave through modulated electric field. It is shown that the direct coupling term and the associated reverse absorbtion effect do not contribute individually to the growth or damping to the Bernstein mode. Only the polarization coupling term is found to be effective in the energy upconversion process as the external magnetic field is providing momentum in the direction of propagation of Bernstein mode. The polarization coupling term is identified to be the dominant upconversion factor in the plasma maser effect.     

Nonlinearly-coupled Langmuir and Ion-Acoustic Waves

In a plasma acted on by an intense laser field, one encounters the problem of nonlinearly-coupled Langmuir and ion-acoustic waves. We use a generalized perturbation theory to discuss the nature of coupled oscillatory waves in this system, and the possibility of formation of an ionsheath.     

Comments on Probe-Excited Oblique Ion-Acoustic Waves in a Multidipole Plasma Device

Low-frequency noise (fci < f < fpi) excited by positively biased probes of various diameters near the magnets in a multidipole plasma device is investigated. It is concluded that the noise is due to the excitation of oblique ion-acoustic waves, i.e., the electrostatic ion-cyclotron waves in the low field limit propagating at large angles to the magnetic field.     

Experimental verification of the shear-modified ion-acoustic instability

The predicted shear-induced shift of the wave phase velocity, the essence of the shear-modified ion-acoustic (SMIA) instability mechanism that reduces ion Landau damping for otherwise damped ion-acoustic waves [V. Gavrishchaka et al., 80, 728 (1998)], is verified with direct measurements in a strongly magnetized laboratory plasma. The SMIA growth rate is shown to increase with increasing shear, as predicted. SMIA wave propagation is shown to be possible at both small and large angles to the magnetic field, consistent with space observations of ion-acoustic-like waves.     

Obliquely propagating ion-acoustic solitary and shock waves in magnetized quantum degenerate multi-ions plasma in the presence of trapped electrons

The properties of obliquely propagating ion-acoustic waves have been investigated in multi-ions magnetized plasma comprising of inertial, positively and negatively charged ion fluids, trapped electrons, and negatively charged stationary heavy ions. The propagation of the waves is oblique to the ambient magnetic field which is along the z-direction. Only fast type of modes exists in the linear regime. The reductive perturbation method was adopted to derive the Korteweg– de Vries (KdV) and Burger equations, as well as the solitary and shock wave solutions of the evolved equations, have been used to analyze the properties of the small but finite amplitude waves. The effects of the constituent plasma parameters, namely, the trapping effect of electrons, the electron degenerate temperature and the viscosity coefficient on the dynamics of the small amplitude solitary and shock waves have been examined. The influence of the magnetic field and the obliquity parameter on the propagation characteristics of ion-acoustic waves are discussed.     

强激光引起等离子体参量加热的粒子模拟研究

我们利用一维半粒子云网格法作数值模拟、研究了频率略高于等离子体频率(ω₀=1.1ω_v)的强激光电场引起的参量加热。结果表明,离子声衰变不稳定性和振荡双流不稳定性同时被激发,非线性饱和呈现出较为细致的结构,等离子体被强烈加热,饱和后Langmuir湍流谱遵从一个典型的幂规律。     

Duration of the source of the current in laser-produced plasmas

The source of the current in a plasma produced by a 1.7 ns CO₂ laser irradiation of a copper target is found to last for to 150 ns. Evidence is shown for a short circuit in the laser plasma which shields the target from the intense magnetic field associated with the current.     

Laser-induced fluorescent measurements of magnetic field contoursin a low-pressure discharge

Faraday rotation of a laser beam and emission spectroscopy to resolve Zeeman splitting provide information about the plasma magnetic field, integrated along the line of sight. Information about the local magnetic field strength can be obtained using a dye laser tuned off the center of an atomic or ionic transition by an amount δλ_z. If the absorption linewidth of the transition probed is less than the Zeeman splitting, only those atoms/ions residing in a magnetic field where the Zeeman splitting is δλ_z will resonantly absorb energy from the laser and fluoresce. The feasibility of this magnetic field contour technique was studied in a low-pressure neon discharge. A conductor insulated from the discharge generated a large magnetic field in the discharge free of the Stark broadening effects associated with large plasma currents. The laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) intensity profile measured along the laser beams had peaks at those spatial locations where local magnetic fields, inferred from the conductor current, agreed with the Zeeman shifted wavelength of the laser     

Stimulated Brillouin scattering of elliptical laser beam in collisionless plasma

This paper presents an investigation of self-focusing of elliptical laser beam in collisionless plasma and its effect on stimulated Brillouin scattering. The pump beam interacts with a pre-excited ion-acoustic wave leading to Brillouin back-scattered process. The transverse intensity gradient of a pump beam generates a ponderomotive force, which modifies the background plasma density profile in a direction transverse to pump beam axis. This modification in density effects the incident laser beam, ion-acoustic wave and back-scattered beam. Non-linear differential equations for the beam width parameters of pump laser beam, ion-acoustic wave and back-scattered beam are set up and solved numerically. It is observed from the analysis that the focusing of waves enhances the SBS back-reflectivity.     

Surface acceleration of fast electrons with relativistic self-focusing in preformed plasma

We report an observation of surface acceleration of fast electrons in intense laser-plasma interactions. When a preformed plasma is presented in front of a solid target with a higher laser intensity, the emission direction of fast electrons is changed to the target surface direction from the laser and specular directions. This feature could be caused by the formation of a strong static magnetic field along the target surface which traps and holds fast electrons on the surface. In our experiment, the increase in the laser intensity due to relativistic self-focusing in plasma plays an important role for the formation. The strength of the magnetic field is calculated from the bent angle of the electrons, resulting in tens of percent of laser magnetic field, which agrees well with a two-dimensional particle-in-cell calculation. The strong surface current explains the high conversion efficiency on the cone-guided fast ignitor experiments.     

Large amplitude ion-acoustic double layers in a plasma havingvariable-charge dust grain particles

The dust grain charging effect on large amplitude ion-acoustic double layers in a dusty plasma are investigated by the numerical calculation. The nonlinear structures of ion-acoustic double layers are examined, showing that the characteristics of the double layer sensitively depend on the dust charging effect, the influence of the ion temperature, the electrostatic potential, and the Mach number. The flow of the plasma current to the surface of dust particles increases the dust charge numbers. The effect of the ion temperature decreases the propagation speed of the ion-acoustic double layers and decreases the dust charge numbers. It is found that rarefactive double layers can propagate in this system. New findings of large amplitude ion-acoustic double layers with the dust charging effect and finite ion temperature in a dusty plasma are predicted     

Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in a plasma with negative ions

A dispersion relation for low-frequency electrostatic modes in a plasma with negative ions is derived for the case in which a velocity shear Kelvin-Helmholtz instability exists in the positive ion flow along the magnetic field. It is found that the negative ions have, generally, a destabilizing effect, as seen previously for ion-acoustic and electrostatic ion-cyclotron waves. The influence of the negative-ion-to-positive-ion mass mass ratio on the stability is also examined     

Korteweg-De Vries Equation for Non-Linear Ion-Acoustic Waves in a Plasma with Negative Ions

The theoretical analysis, based on the perturbation technique, of ion-acoustic waves in the vicinity of a Korteweg-de Vries (K-dV) equation derived in a plasma with some negative ions has been made. The investigation shows that the negative ions in plasma with isothermal electrons introduced a critical concentration at which the ion-acoustic wave plays an important role of wave-breaking and forming a precursor while the plasma with non-isothermal electrons has no such singular behaviour of the wave. These two distinct features of ion waves lead to an overall different approach of present study of ion-waves. A distinct feature of non-uniform transition from the nonisothermal case to isothermal case has been shown. Few particular plasma models have been chosen to show the characteristics behaviour of the ion-waves existing in different cases.     

激光等离子体在螺线管发散磁场中的特性研究

激光烧蚀等离子体(LAP)可用作粒子加速器和离子注入器中使用的离子源。相较于其它离子源,激光离子源在流强上具有优势,但由于产生的离子束脉冲时间短,限制了其在加速器中的广泛应用。实验中通过对激光等离子体扩散区域引入螺线管磁场进行约束,实现了对激光等离子体脉冲时间结构的调制。为了研究螺线管磁场对LAP的影响,实验使用了不同的激光能量(1~8 J)来生产具有不同初始条件的激光等离子体,并应用了不同的磁场强度来约束激光等离子体。在螺线管边缘场,通过可移动的法拉第筒(FC)对激光等离子体的横向分布进行测量。对于不同初始状态的等离子体,随着磁场的增加,其离子脉冲的主要参数(脉冲总电荷量、峰值流强、脉宽)均呈现先上升后逐渐饱和的变化趋势。另外,在没有磁场的条件下,在所测量位置处,等离子体的横向呈均匀分布;而在磁场约束的条件下,等离子体明显向轴线聚集。以上实验结果对进一步了解磁约束激光等离子体的特性具有重要意义。     

Density oscillations in laser produced plasma decelerated by external magnetic field

This paper presents the dynamics as well as the stability of laser produced plasma expanding across the magnetic field. Observation of some high frequency fluctuations superimposed on ion saturation current along with structuring in the pin hole images of x-ray emitting plasma plume indicate the presence of instability in the plasma. Two type of slope in the variation of x-ray emission with laser intensity in the absence and presence of magnetic field shows appearance of different threshold intensity of laser corresponding to each magnetic field at which this instability or density fluctuation sets on. This instability has been identified as a large Larmor radius instability instead of classical Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) instability.     

Observation of the parametric two-ion decay instability with thomson scattering

We present the first direct experimental observation of the parametric two-ion decay instability of ion-acoustic waves driven by a high intensity (5 x 10(15) W cm(-2)) laser beam in a laser produced high-Z plasma. Using two separate Thomson scattering diagnostics simultaneously, we directly measure the scattering from thermal ion-acoustic fluctuations, the primary ion waves that are driven to large amplitudes by the high intensity beam, and the two-ion decay products. The decay products are shown to be present only where the interaction takes place and their k spectrum is broad.     

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。     

Return current instability and its effects on beam-plasma system

The return current induced in a plasma by a relativisitc electron beam generates a new electron-ion two-stream instability (return current instability). Although the effect of these currents on the beam-plasma e-e instability is negligible, there exists a range of wave numbers which is unstable only to return current (RC) instability and not to e-e instability. The electromagnetic waves propagating along the direction of the external magnetic field, in which the plasma is immersed, are stabilized by these currents but the e.m. waves with frequencies,ω ²≪Ω _e ² ≪ω _pe ² (Ω _e andω _pe being cyclotron and plasma frequency for the electrons of the plasma respectively) propagating transverse to the magnetic field get destabilized. Heuristic estimates of plasma heating, due to RC instability and due to decay of ion-acoustic turbulence generated by the return current, are made. The fastest time scale on which the return current delivers energy to the plasma due to the scattering of ion-sound waves by the electrons can be ∼ω _pi ⁻¹ (ω _pi being the plasma frequency for the ions).     

Nonlinear ion-acoustic waves in magnetized plasmas in presence of energetic electrons and positively charged dust

A theoretical investigation has been carried out for exploring different features of ion-acoustic solitary and shock waves in a three-component magnetized plasma containing a mixture of thermal and nonthermal (energetic) inertialess electrons, warm inertial ions, and positively charged stationary dust particles. The standard Korteweg-de Vries (Burgers) equation has been derived by employing the reductive perturbation method, and its solitary (shock) wave solution has been derived and examined analytically as well as numerically. The latter exhibits characteristic properties (amplitude, width, speed, and polarity) of the ion-acoustic solitary and shock waves. It has been shown that the ion-acoustic solitary and shock waves are significantly modified by different plasma parameters (viz. parameter measuring the ratio of dust charge density to ion charge density, parameter measuring the fraction of energetic electrons, parameter measuring ion or electron temperature, and the external magnetic field). The present investigation may help in understanding the physics of various nonlinear phenomena formed in many space plasma systems, (viz. earth's mesosphere, solar wind, and cometary tails) and laboratory devices (laboratory experiments of Samarian et al., Phys. rev. E. 64 , 056407 [2001] and of Fortov et al., New J. Physics 5 , 102 [2003]).