Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Observation of an unstable l =1 diocotron mode on a hollow electron column

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters; (USA)
 [1]
  1. University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (US)
Stable and unstable diocotron modes varying as {ital e}{sup {ital il}{theta}}, with {ital l}=1, are measured on a magnetized, partially hollow electron column. The unstable mode is observed to grow exponentially over several decades, in contradiction to present 2 D fluid theory. This {ital l}=1 instability can dominate the evolution well into the nonlinear regime, resulting in cross-field transport to a stable, monotonically decreasing density profile. To the extent this process is described by 2D {bold E}{times}{bold B} drifts, it is isomorphic to the Kelvin-Helmholtz shear-flow instability of inviscid fluids.
OSTI ID:
6981936
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters; (USA), Journal Name: Physical Review Letters; (USA) Vol. 64:6; ISSN PRLTA; ISSN 0031-9007
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Exponential growth of an unstable [ital l]=1 diocotron mode for a hollow electron column in a warm-fluid model
Journal Article · Sun Feb 28 23:00:00 EST 1993 · Physics of Fluids B; (United States) · OSTI ID:6817131

Experiments on vortex dynamics in pure electron plasmas
Journal Article · Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Physics of Fluids B; (USA) · OSTI ID:6804812

Algebraic instability of hollow electron columns and cylindrical vortices
Journal Article · Sun Feb 04 23:00:00 EST 1990 · Physical Review Letters; (USA) · OSTI ID:6966168