Perturbed Bifurcation of Stationary Striations in a Contaminated, Non-Uniform Plasma.
Abstract
A cylindrical, weakly ionized, and collision dominated neon plasma described by a system of nonlinear, parabolic reaction-diffusion equations for the electron and metastable atom axial densities exhibits a bifurcation from a uniform to a striated state at a critical length of the plasma column. The sharp transition between states predicted by the theory is in contrast with the smooth transition observed in experiments. We apply the theory of singular perturbations of bifurcations to show that small inhomogeneities in the plasma, such as those caused by non-uniform heating and contamination, are sufficient to qualitatively explain the experimental results. We observe that a steady, axial magnetic field in the plasma can also produce a smooth transition. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA112015
Entities
People
- J. F. Magnan
- R. A. Goldstein
Organizations
- Northwestern University