Ion cyclotron instabilities in a mildly relativistic hydrogen-deuterium fusion plasma

A dispersion relation for the perpendicular propagation of the electromagnetic ion cyclotron wave around the second harmonic of the deuterium ion gyrofrequency in a mildly relativistic, anisotropic Maxwellian plasma with hydrogen as the majority species and deuterium as the minority component has been derived. The work has been carried out in the frame of reference of the majority hydrogen ions; to these ions the waves at 2Θ_D would be at its own gyrofrequency. Using a small quantityɛ to order all relevant parameters of the plasma, it was possible to derive the dispersion relations in a simple form. To the lowest order the relativistic factors do not enter the dispersion relation. The plasma can now support two modes—one above and the other below the hydrogen gyrofrequency in agreement with the assumptions. This was also verified numerically using a standard root solver thereby justifying the correctness of the ordering scheme. In the next higher order, the dispersion relation is a quartic equation and is sensitively dependent on the relativistic factors. The plasma can now support four modes, both above and below the hydrogen gyrofrequency and consistent with the ordering scheme used. However the modes can now coalesce resulting in complex conjugate roots to the dispersion relation thereby indicating an instability. The advantage of such a scheme is that two dispersion relations — one of which is independent of the relativistic factors and the other which is sensitively dependent on them can be separated out.