G. J. Morales

Structure of kinetic Alfven waves with small transverse scale length

This analytical study illustrates the spatial pattern of kinetic Alfven waves excited by a current-modulating disk whose dimension a, transverse to the confining magnetic field, is comparable to the ion sound gyroradius cs/Ωi, where cs is the sound speed and Ωi the ion cyclotron frequency. The radial structure of the wave azimuthal magnetic field is found to consist of four regions: a Bessel function behavior for r<a, a near null at r≅a, and a driven Airy pattern for r≫a which merges onto the 1/r asymptotic region. The pattern spreads at an angle given by tanu2009θ=(ω/Ωi)(cs/vA)/2.6, where ω is the modulation frequency and vA is the Alfven speed. This behavior arises because there is a maximum value at finite k⊥ for the ratio of the perpendicular to parallel group velocity, which differs from the cone spreading [G. J. Morales et al., Phys. Plasmas 1, 3765 (1994)] associated with inertial Alfven waves.

The many faces of shear Alfvén wavesa)

One of the fundamental waves in magnetized plasmas is the shear Alfven wave. This wave is responsible for rearranging current systems and, in fact all low frequency currents in magnetized plasmas are shear waves. It has become apparent that Alfven waves are important in a wide variety of physical environments. Shear waves of various forms have been a topic of experimental research for more than fifteen years in the large plasma device (LAPD) at UCLA. The waves were first studied in both the kinetic and inertial regimes when excited by fluctuating currents with transverse dimension on the order of the collisionless skin depth. Theory and experiment on wave propagation in these regimes is presented, and the morphology of the wave is illustrated to be dependent on the generation mechanism. Three-dimensional currents associated with the waves have been mapped. The ion motion, which closes the current across the magnetic field, has been studied using laser induced fluorescence. The wave propagation in inhomogeneous magnetic fields and density gradients is presented as well as effects of collisions and reflections from boundaries. Reflections may result in Alfvenic field line resonances and in the right conditions maser action. The waves occur spontaneously on temperature and density gradients as hybrids with drift waves. These have been seen to affect cross-field heat and plasma transport. Although the waves are easily launched with antennas, they may also be generated by secondary processes, such as Cherenkov radiation. This is the case when intense shear Alfven waves in a background magnetoplasma are produced by an exploding laser-produced plasma. Time varying magnetic flux ropes can be considered to be low frequency shear waves. Studies of the interaction of multiple ropes and the link between magnetic field line reconnection and rope dynamics are revealed. This manuscript gives us an overview of the major results from these experiments and provides a modern prospective for the earlier studies of shear Alfven waves.

The upgraded Large Plasma Device, a machine for studying frontier basic plasma physics

In 1991 a manuscript describing an instrument for studying magnetized plasmas was published in this journal. The Large Plasma Device (LAPD) was upgraded in 2001 and has become a national user facility for the study of basic plasma physics. The upgrade as well as diagnostics introduced since then has significantly changed the capabilities of the device. All references to the machine still quote the original RSI paper, which at this time is not appropriate. In this work, the properties of the updated LAPD are presented. The strategy of the machine construction, the available diagnostics, the parameters available for experiments, as well as illustrations of several experiments are presented here.

Exponential frequency spectrum and Lorentzian pulses in magnetized plasmas

Two different experiments involving pressure gradients across the confinement magnetic field in a large plasma column are found to exhibit a broadband turbulence that displays an exponential frequency spectrum for frequencies below the ion cyclotron frequency. The exponential feature has been traced to the presence of solitary pulses having a Lorentzian temporal signature. These pulses arise from nonlinear interactions of drift-Alfven waves driven by the pressure gradients. In both experiments the width of the pulses is narrowly distributed resulting in exponential spectra with a single characteristic time scale. The temporal width of the pulses is measured to be a fraction of a period of the drift-Alfven waves. The experiments are performed in the Large Plasma Device (LAPD-U) [W. Gekelman et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 62, 2875 (1991)] operated by the Basic Plasma Science Facility at the University of California, Los Angeles. One experiment involves a controlled, pure electron temperature gradient associated...

Laboratory studies of field-aligned density striations and their relationship to auroral processes

Magnetic field-aligned structures in current, density, and temperature are common features of the auroral ionospheric plasma. These structures both generate and transform low frequency waves in the plasma. The results of laboratory studies of two processes involving magnetic field-aligned density depletions (striations) that play a role in auroral plasma dynamics are presented. The first process involves the spontaneous generation of density and magnetic fluctuations at the striation edge. The nature of the fluctuations depends upon the electron plasma beta. At high beta (greater than the electron to ion mass ratio, m/M) the drift Alfven wave is excited. At lower beta the density and magnetic field fluctuations separate and the shear Alfven wave dominates. This process creates an environment conducive to electron acceleration along the magnetic field when the striation size is on the order of the electron skin depth because the shear Alfven wave then has a substantial field-aligned electric field. The sec...

Dynamics of narrow electron streams in magnetized plasmas

In this analytical and computer simulation study we explore the dynamics of a narrow electron stream embedded in a magnetized plasma. The transverse dimension of the stream is envisioned to be on the order of the electron skin depth, as is appropriate to several problems of current interest (e.g., auroral beams, reconnection). Within the layer the drift velocity exceeds the thermal velocity, and thus the Buneman instability is excited. The method of matched asymptotic expansions is used to describe the linear stage of the instability for a nonuniform drift profile. It predicts a lowering of the growth rate and a rapid decrease in wave amplitude at the spatial location where the beam mode resonance is encountered. A particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation is used to verify the predictions of the analysis and to illustrate the important nonlinear behavior. It is found that the rapid flash of the Buneman instability excites a lower-hybrid wave, causes strong perpendicular ion acceleration, and results in a region ...

Drift-Alfvén fluctuations associated with a narrow pressure striation

This analytical and numerical study illustrates the linear stability properties of low frequency electromagnetic eigenmodes driven by field-aligned pressure striations whose scale transverse to the confining magnetic field is on the order of the electron skin-depth. A full electromagnetic formulation is given in terms of the coupling of the fluctuating axial fields (Ẽz,Bz) and incorporates shear and compressional Alfven waves, drift waves, and ion acoustic waves. The kinetic response of the electrons includes pitch-angle scattering (Lorentz model) and the ions are treated as a magnetized, cold fluid. Detailed quantitative comparisons of the theoretical predictions are made with laboratory observations of fluctuations generated in controlled pressure depletions [J. E. Maggs and G. J. Morales, Phys. Plasmas 4, 290 (1997)] and in narrow temperature plumes [A. T. Burke, J. E. Maggs, and G. J. Morales, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3659 (1998)].

Interaction of a shear Alfvén wave with a filamentary density perturbation in a low-β plasma

This analytic study investigates the interaction between a large-scale shear Alfven wave propagating through a low-β plasma and a pre-existing density perturbation of small transverse scale. The interaction forms an in situ antenna that self-consistently generates two field-aligned current channels of opposite polarity. The expansion of the current channels across the confining field is bounded by the cone trajectories of small-scale inertial Alfven waves. The spatial patterns of the radiated fields are obtained, and the magnitude of the parallel electric field and its effective phase velocity are assessed. An effective cross section that varies with the parallel and transverse scale lengths of the density perturbation summarizes the efficiency of the direct conversion process.

Properties of drift waves in a filamentary density depletion

This analytical and numerical study explores the properties of electrostatic, drift-wave eigenmodes trapped within a magnetic field-aligned depletion in plasma density and temperature whose transverse dimension is on the order of the electron skin depth. The dependence of the complex eigenfrequencies on key parameters is investigated for collisionless and collisional plasma. The collisional description is based on the Lorentz model of electron pitch-angle scattering. The separate roles of the gradients in density and temperature are illustrated for the collisional and collisionless regimes. The predictions are compared to experimental observations [J. E. Maggs and G. J. Morales, Geophys. Res. Lett. 23, 633 (1996); Phys. Plasmas 4, 290 (1997)] of a controlled striation in the laboratory.

Perpendicular ion acceleration by localized high frequency electric fields in magnetized plasmas

A basic process capable of explaining observations of fast perpendicular ions in a wide range of plasma environments is described. Spatial symmetry breaking perpendicular to the confining magnetic field is shown to cause irreversible energy gain for ions gyrating through an electric field having a nonuniform amplitude. The efficiency depends on the ratio of the ion Larmor radius to the scale length of the amplitude gradient, and on the scaled frequency ν≡ω/Ωi. A Landau resonance is not required, and there is no lower threshold on the electric field, because the mechanism is active in the linear regime. Theory, numerics, and particle‐in‐cell simulations are used to illustrate the interaction for electrostatic fields in the lower‐hybrid range of frequencies, but the process does not depend on a particular type of mode.