Two-dimensional electron-electron two-stream instability of an inertial electrostatic confinement device
- Plasma Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, Prince Consort Road, SW7 2BW London (United Kingdom) and Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
Theoretical works by Barnes and Nebel [D. C. Barnes and R. A. Nebel, Phys. Plasmas 5, 2498 (1998); R. A. Nebel and D. C. Barnes, Fusion Technol. 38, 28 (1998)] have suggested that a tiny oscillating ion cloud (referred to as the periodically oscillating plasma sphere or POPS) may undergo a self-similar collapse in a harmonic oscillator potential formed by a uniform electron background. A major uncertainty in this oscillating plasma scheme is the stability of the virtual cathode that forms the harmonic oscillator potential. The electron-electron two-stream stability of the virtual cathode has previously been studied with a fluid model, a slab kinetic model, a spherically symmetric kinetic model, and experimentally [R. A. Nebel and J. M. Finn, Phys. Plasmas 8, 1505 (2001); R. A. Nebel et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 040501 (2005)]. Here the mode is studied with a two-dimensional particle-in-cell code. Results indicate stability limits near those of the previously spherically symmetric case.
- OSTI ID:
- 20860285
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 13, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2356848; (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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