The frequency and damping of ion acoustic waves in collisional and collisionless two-species plasma

Journal Article · Tue Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 2005 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1855923· OSTI ID:20698361

Berger, R L; Valeo, E J ^[1]

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1. University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94551 (United States)

The dispersion properties of ion acoustic waves are sensitive to the strength of ion-ion collisions in multispecies plasma in which the different species usually have differing charge-to-mass ratios. The modification of the frequency and damping of the fast and slow acoustic modes in a plasma composed of light (low-Z) and heavy (high-Z) ions is considered. In the fluid limit where the light ion scattering mean free path {lambda}{sub lh} is smaller than the acoustic wavelength, {lambda}=2{pi}/k, the interspecies friction and heat flow carried by the light ions scattering from the heavy ions causes the damping. In the collisionless limit, k{lambda}{sub lh}>>1, Landau damping by the light ions provides the dissipation. In the intermediate regime when k{lambda}{sub lh}{approx}1, the damping is at least as large as the sum of the collisional and Landau damping.

• OSTI ID: 20698361
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 12; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
COLLISIONAL PLASMA
COLLISIONLESS PLASMA
DISPERSION RELATIONS
ION ACOUSTIC WAVES
ION-ION COLLISIONS
LANDAU DAMPING