Experimental Observation of Fluid Echoes in a Non-Neutral Plasma
Abstract
Experimental observation of a nonlinear fluid echo is presented which demonstrates the reversible nature of spatial Landau damping, and that non-neutral plasmas behave as nearly ideal 2D fluids. These experiments are performed on UCSD's CamV Penning-Malmberg trap with magnetized electron plasmas. An initial m (sub i) = 2 diocotron wave is excited, and the received wall signal damps away in about 5 wave periods. The density perturbation filaments are observed to wrap up as the wave is spatially Landau damped. An m (sub t) = 4 "tickler" wave is then excited, and this wave also Landau damps. The echo consists of a spontaneous appearance of a third m (sub e) = 2 wave after the responses to the first two waves have inviscidly damped away. The appearance time of the echo agrees with theory, and data suggests the echo is destroyed at least partly due to saturation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 24, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADP012531
Entities
People
- C.. F. Driscoll
- Jonathan H. Yu
Organizations
- University of California, San Diego