Electrostatic bounce modes in mirror plasmas

Journal Article · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979 · Phys. Fluids; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.862487· OSTI ID:5971488

Sharp, W M; Berk, H L; Nielsen, C E

Bounce modes are plasma waves which result from the coherent bounce motion of trapped particles. Such modes can occur in mirror devices when the relative spread in electron bounce frequencies is small. When electron bounce modes have perpendicular wavelengths comparable to typical ion gyroradii and frequencies near the ion gyrofrequency or some harmonic, they couple effectively with the ions and can be destabilized by a loss-cone ion distribution. A one-dimensional integral dispersion equation for electron bounce modes in a mirror plasma is derived and solved numerically for the wave eigenfrequencies. Predicted threshold densities for bounce mode instabilities in the Baseball I and Baseball II devices are compared with experimental values. Good agreement is found for Baseball II, but in Baseball I the predicted thresholds are consistently below observed values.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720
• OSTI ID: 5971488
• Journal Information: Phys. Fluids; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Fluids; (United States) Vol. 22:10; ISSN PFLDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700107* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Instabilities
700108 -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Wave Phenomena
BASEBALL DEVICES
BOLTZMANN-VLASOV EQUATION
CHARGED PARTICLES
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
DISPERSION RELATIONS
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
EIGENFREQUENCY
EIGENVALUES
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EQUATIONS
FERMIONS
FOURIER TRANSFORMATION
INSTABILITY
INTEGRAL EQUATIONS
INTEGRAL TRANSFORMATIONS
IONS
LEPTONS
LOSS CONE INSTABILITY
MAGNETIC MIRROR TYPE REACTORS
MATRICES
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
ONE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
OPEN PLASMA DEVICES
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MICROINSTABILITIES
PLASMA WAVES
STANDING WAVES
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
TRAJECTORIES
TRANSFORMATIONS
TRAPPED ELECTRONS
WAVELENGTHS