Controlling Hot Electrons by Wave Amplification and Decay in Compressing Plasma
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544 (United States)
Through particle-in-cell simulations, it is demonstrated that a part of the mechanical energy of compressing plasma can be controllably transferred to hot electrons by preseeding the plasma with a Langmuir wave that is compressed together with the medium. Initially, a wave is undamped, so it is amplified under compression due to plasmon conservation. Later, as the phase velocity also changes under compression, Landau damping can be induced at a predetermined instant of time. Then the wave energy is transferred to hot electrons, shaping the particle distribution over a controllable velocity interval, which is wider than that in stationary plasma. For multiple excited modes, the transition between the adiabatic amplification and the damping occurs at different moments; thus, individual modes can deposit their energy independently, each at its own prescribed time.
- OSTI ID:
- 21467039
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 17; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.175003; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0031-9007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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