Collisionless plasma expansion into vacuum: Two new twists on an old problem
- Institute for Fusion Studies, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 (United States)
The paper deals with a generic problem of collisionless plasma expansion into vacuum in the regimes where the expanding plasma consists of hot electrons and cold ions. The expansion is caused by electron pressure and serves as an energy transfer mechanism from electrons to ions. This process is often described under the assumption of Maxwellian electrons, which easily fails in the absence of collisions. The paper discusses two systems with a naturally occurring non-Maxwellian distribution: an expanding laser-irradiated nanoplasma and a supersonic jet coming out of a magnetic nozzle. The presented rigorous kinetic description demonstrates how the deviation from the Maxwellian distribution fundamentally alters the process of ion acceleration during plasma expansion. This result points to the critical importance of a fully kinetic treatment in problems with collisionless plasma expansion.
- OSTI ID:
- 21277144
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3118625; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Expansion of a collisionless plasma into vacuum
Adaptive Critical Balance and Firehose Instability in an Expanding, Turbulent, Collisionless Plasma