Signal Propagation in Collisional Plasma with Negative Ions
The transport of charged species in collisional currentless plasmas is traditionally thought of as a diffusion-like process. In this paper, it is demonstrated that, in contrast to two-component plasma, containing electrons and positive ions, the transport of additional ions in multi-species plasmas is not governed by diffusion, rather described by nonlinear convection. As a particular example, plasmas with the presence of negative ions have been studied. The velocity of a small perturbation of negative ions was found analytically and validated by numerical simulation. As a result of nonlinear convection, initially smooth ion density profiles break and form strongly inhomogeneous shock-like fronts. These fronts are different from collisionless shocks and shocks in fully ionized plasma. The structure of the fronts has been found analytically and numerically.
- Research Organization:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Research (ER) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH03073
- OSTI ID:
- 772260
- Report Number(s):
- PPPL-3528; TRN: US0100633
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 18 Dec 2000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Nonlinear evolution of drift instabilities in the presence of collisions
Negative Ion Density Fronts