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Title: Instability of an electron-plasma shear layer in an externally imposed strain flow

Abstract

The E x B shear instability of a two-dimensional (2D) filament (i.e., a thin, rectangular strip perpendicular to the magnetic field) of magnetized pure electron plasma is investigated experimentally in the presence of an externally imposed strain flow. Data are acquired using a specialized Penning–Malmberg trap in which strain flows can be applied in 2D by biasing segmented electrodes surrounding the plasma. The E x B drift dynamics are well-described by the Drift-Poisson equations, which are isomorphic to the 2D Euler equations describing ideal fluids. Thus, the experimental results correspond to the Rayleigh instability of a shear layer in a 2D ideal fluid, where the electron density is analogous to the fluid vorticity. Shear layers are prepared by stretching initially axisymmetric electron vortices using a strong, applied strain flow. The data at early times are in quantitative agreement with a linear model which extends Rayleigh’s work to account for the influence of an external strain flow. In the presence of weak strain, the system approximately maintains a phase relationship that corresponds to an instantaneous Rayleigh eigenmode. The instability develops into the nonlinear regime later in time and at smaller spatial scales as the strain rate is increased. A secondary vortexmore » pairing instability is observed, but it is suppressed when the strain-to-vorticity ratio exceeds roughly 0.025. In this way, vorticity transport perpendicular to the filament is diminished due to the applied strain.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
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  1. Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
OSTI Identifier:
1608030
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1607950
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0016532; SC0018236; SC0014664
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physics of Plasmas
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 27; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; plasma; fluid; vortex; turbulence; Rayleigh instability; Kelvin Helmholtz instability; nonneutral plasmas; single-component plasmas

Citation Formats

Hurst, N. C., Danielson, J. R., Dubin, D. H. E., and Surko, C. M. Instability of an electron-plasma shear layer in an externally imposed strain flow. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1063/1.5138924.
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Hurst, N. C., Danielson, J. R., Dubin, D. H. E., & Surko, C. M. Instability of an electron-plasma shear layer in an externally imposed strain flow. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5138924
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Hurst, N. C., Danielson, J. R., Dubin, D. H. E., and Surko, C. M. Wed . "Instability of an electron-plasma shear layer in an externally imposed strain flow". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5138924. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1608030.
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@article{osti_1608030,
title = {Instability of an electron-plasma shear layer in an externally imposed strain flow},
author = {Hurst, N. C. and Danielson, J. R. and Dubin, D. H. E. and Surko, C. M.},
abstractNote = {The E x B shear instability of a two-dimensional (2D) filament (i.e., a thin, rectangular strip perpendicular to the magnetic field) of magnetized pure electron plasma is investigated experimentally in the presence of an externally imposed strain flow. Data are acquired using a specialized Penning–Malmberg trap in which strain flows can be applied in 2D by biasing segmented electrodes surrounding the plasma. The E x B drift dynamics are well-described by the Drift-Poisson equations, which are isomorphic to the 2D Euler equations describing ideal fluids. Thus, the experimental results correspond to the Rayleigh instability of a shear layer in a 2D ideal fluid, where the electron density is analogous to the fluid vorticity. Shear layers are prepared by stretching initially axisymmetric electron vortices using a strong, applied strain flow. The data at early times are in quantitative agreement with a linear model which extends Rayleigh’s work to account for the influence of an external strain flow. In the presence of weak strain, the system approximately maintains a phase relationship that corresponds to an instantaneous Rayleigh eigenmode. The instability develops into the nonlinear regime later in time and at smaller spatial scales as the strain rate is increased. A secondary vortex pairing instability is observed, but it is suppressed when the strain-to-vorticity ratio exceeds roughly 0.025. In this way, vorticity transport perpendicular to the filament is diminished due to the applied strain.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5138924},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 4,
volume = 27,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5138924
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