Plasma Current and Conductivity Effects on Hose Instability.
Abstract
Hose instability dispersion relations are derived for a relativistic beam propagating in weakly ionized gas, which include a self-consistent treatment of the spatial and temporal evolution of plasma conductivity and plasma current. In some regimes the results are dramatically different from these found previously for a beam propagating in a fixed conductivity channel. For example, the hose growth rate is found to decrease with increasing beam I sub b, for a beam propagating in initially neutral gas, even though the plasma return current fraction increases rapidly with I sub b. As another example, it is found that an externally driven discharge current can completely eliminate hose instability in a fixed conductivity channel, but causes only a weak decrease in growth rate when the plasma conductivity is modeled self-consistently. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 26, 1984
- Accession Number
- ADA137549
Entities
People
- M. Lampe
- R. Hubbard
- W. Sharp
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory