NONLINEAR MECHANICS OF PLASMA-LIKE DISTRIBUTED MEDIA.
Abstract
The finite-amplitude controlled oscillations produced in a thermal-plasma device (Q-machine) as a result of the universal instability provide a useful tool for experimental research in the nonlinear mechanics of plasma -like distributed systems i.e., systems in which the pertinent physical parameters are distributed in one or more of the coordinate variables (position and velocity) used to describe the system, rather than lumped, as in more familiar vacuum-tube or mechanical configurations. Results obtained in such experiments have been analyzed by extending techniques of nonlinear mechanics to distributed systems. In particular, nonlinear phenomena such a mode competition and mode locking have been examined and the relation between these phenomena in plasmas and in related systems such as the gaseous optical maser has been delineated. The current status of this work is reviewed with particular emphasis being given to the analysis of mode locking and the implications of this effect for turbulence in plasmas. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0630677
Entities
People
- Herbert Lashinsky
Organizations
- University of Maryland