Interaction of a magnetic piston with a plasma

Journal Article · Sat Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1980 · Sov. J. Plasma Phys. (Engl. Transl.); (United States)

OSTI ID:6701439

Koshilev, N A; Masalov, V L; Strokin, N A; Shishko, A A

Experiments are reported on the current sheet which arises in a theta-pinch without an initial field when a hydrogen plasma with a density n/sub 0/=7 x 10/sup 11/-2 x 10/sup 13/ cm/sup -3/ is compressed by a rapidly rising magnetic field. At n/sub 0/<4 x 10/sup 12/ cm/sup -3/, a nearly steady-state reflecting piston forms; propagating ahead of this piston is a potential discontinuity with a spatial width ..delta../sub phi/=50 --100r/sub d/, where r/sub d/ is the Debye length. A substantial ion heating is observed. At n/sub 0/>4 x 10/sup 12/ cm/sup -3/, this reflecting piston exists only in the initial stage of the process, and then there is a transition to a time-varying stage of the compression. The reflection of the plasma flow stops; the fine structure in the potential disappears; and the ion heating falls off greatly. The ion energy distribution observed in the time-varying current sheet is typical of sheets with ion-acoustic turbulence.

• Research Organization: Siberian Institute of Geomagnetism, the Ionosphere, and Radio Wave Propagation, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Irkutsk
• OSTI ID: 6701439
• Journal Information: Sov. J. Plasma Phys. (Engl. Transl.); (United States), Journal Name: Sov. J. Plasma Phys. (Engl. Transl.); (United States) Vol. 6:2; ISSN SJPPD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700101* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Confinement
Heating
&amp; Production
ION TEMPERATURE
PINCH EFFECT
PISTONS
PLASMA SHEATH
SHOCK WAVES
THETA PINCH