DIFFUSION OF PLASMAS ACROSS A MAGNETIC FIELD.
Abstract
Experimental: Experimental investigation of transport processes in cesium arc plasmas shows classical ambipolar diffusion across low magnetic fields, convective transport associated with the helical instability at intermediate fields, and a return, apparently to diffusive transport and relatively good confinement at magnetic fields ten to twenty times the critical field for the onset of the instability. Improved confinement is also achieved by using a hysteresis in the parameter space of the plasma operation, a procedure which may have wide applicability. Theoretical: The methods of Brownian motion are used to describe the diffusion of electrons and ions in a plasma across a magnetic field in the presence of an anisotropic dynamical friction. The bivariate distribution function of a plasma in a magnetic field and the partial differential equation which it satisfies are found and the distribution function is used to calculate the diffusion coefficients. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 28, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0436197
Entities
People
- Harry S. Robertson
Organizations
- University of Miami