Jason Michael Kriesel

Shear reduction of collisional transport: Experiments and theory

Experiments and theory on collisional diffusion and viscosity in quiescent single-species plasmas demonstrate enhanced transport in the two-dimensional (2D) bounce-averaged regime, limited by shear in the plasma rotation. For long plasma columns, the measured diffusion agrees quantitatively with recent theories of three-dimensional long-range E×B drift collisions, and is substantially larger than predicted for classical velocity-scattering collisions. For short plasmas, diffusion is observed to be enhanced by Nb, the number of times a thermal particle bounces axially before being separated by shear. Equivalently, recent theory in the 2D bounce-averaged regime shows how diffusion decreases with increasing shear, generalizing the zero-shear perspective which gives Bohm diffusion. Viscosity is similarly enhanced in the 2D regime, but there is presently only qualitative agreement with theory. These results apply to both non-neutral and neutral plasmas, and provide the first rigorous analysis of shear reductio...

Electron plasma profiles from a cathode with an r2 potential variation

A simple one-dimensional model of Maxwellian injection into a cylindrical Penning–Malmberg trap is presented. This model is used to predict the radial density profile of an electron column produced by a biased cathode with an r2 potential variation. The column density n(r) is assumed to depend upon the cathode potential voltage Vk(r) and the self-consistent space-charge potential φ(r) as n(r)∝exp{e[φ(r)−Vk(r)]/T}. A one-parameter family of theoretical solutions describes the radial density profiles. The model’s predictions agree well with electron density profiles resulting from a spiral tungsten filament measured over a wide range in cathode voltages.

Experiments on viscous transport in pure-electron plasmas

Viscous transport in pure-electron plasmas is a rearrangement of particles due to like-particle interactions, eventually leading to a confined global thermal equilibrium state. The measured transport is observed to be proportional to the shear in the total (E×B+diamagnetic) fluid rotation of the plasma, for both hollow and monotonic rotation profiles. We determine the local kinematic viscosity, κ, from measurements of the local flux of electrons. The measured viscosity is 50−104 times larger than expected from classical transport due to short-range velocity-scattering collisions, but is within a factor of 10 of recent theories by O’Neil and Dubin of transport due to long-range drift collisions. The measured viscosity scales with magnetic field and plasma length roughly as κ∝B/L. This scaling suggests a finite-length transport enhancement caused by particles interacting multiple times as they bounce axially between the ends of the plasma.

Two experimental regimes of asymmetry-induced transport

In a cylindrical trap, azimuthally asymmetric electric or magnetic fields (such as inherent trap asymmetries) cause the cross-magnetic-field transport of particles, leading to bulk radial expansion and eventually to particle loss at the trap walls. Experiments with applied electrostatic asymmetries identify two different transport regimes, “slightly-rigid” and “highly-rigid.” Here the plasma rigidity, R≡fb/fE, is the ratio of the axial bounce frequency to the azimuthal E×B rotation frequency. In the slightly-rigid regime (1 20), the transport scales as Va2R0.