Drift cyclotron and lower hybrid drift instabilities with magnetic shear

Technical Report · Thu Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1977

OSTI ID:5105169

McBride, J B; Krall, N A

Results from a stability analysis of drift cyclotron and lower hybrid drift instabilities in the presence of magnetic shear are presented. In the case of the lower hybrid drift modes, previous treatments are generalized to allow for finite electron gyroradius (k rho/sub e/ approximately greater than 1) in order to treat systems with T/sub e/ approximately T/sub i/. It is found that low density systems, with ..omega../sub pe/ less than ..omega../sub ce/, are much easier to stabilize with shear than are high density systems with ..omega../sub pe/ greater than ..omega../sub ce/. In the lower frequency drift cyclotron limit, shear leads to a reduction in the growth rate rather than to complete stabilization. It is found that shear becomes significant for vertical bar L/sub s//L/sub n/ vertical bar less than (m/sub i//m/sub e/)/sup /sup 1///sub 2// (rho/sub i//vertical bar L/sub n/ vertical bar)/sup /sup 1///sub 2//.

• Research Organization: Science Applications, Inc., La Jolla, Calif. (USA). Lab. for Applied Plasma Studies
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-03-1018
• OSTI ID: 5105169
• Report Number(s): LAPS-34; SAI-77-984-LJ
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700107* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Instabilities
CYCLOTRON INSTABILITY
DRIFT INSTABILITY
EIGENVALUES
HEATING
HIGH-FREQUENCY HEATING
INSTABILITY
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA DRIFT
PLASMA HEATING
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MICROINSTABILITIES
SHEAR