DYNAMIC STABILIZATION OF A PLASMA COLUMN,
Abstract
A cylindrical plasma column is confined by a magnetic field whose z-component is constant while the phicomponent oscillates sinusoidally. The skin depth is assumed to be negligible so that the boundary can be considered as sharp and the interior of the plasma as field free. The plasma itself is treated as an assembly of noncolliding particles which are specularly reflected at the plasma surface. The oscillating pressure of the applied field causes the plasma surface to execute a small periodic motion independent of phi and z. All other components of the displacement decay in time. Thus, the plasma is positively stable against all deformations. For magnetostatic confinement this treatment yields the usual instabilities, but in contrast to earlier work, the growth rates are bounded as the deformation wave length approaches zero. This appears to be in better agreement with experiment. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 15, 1960
- Accession Number
- AD0607963
Entities
People
- Erich S. Weibel
Organizations
- TRW Inc.