The excitation of electrostatic ion wakefields by electromagnetic pulses in a very dense plasma is considered. For this purpose, a wave equation for the ion wakefield in the presence of the ponderomotive force of the electromagnetic waves is obtained. Choosing a typical profile for the electromagnetic pulse, the form of the ion wakefields is deduced. The electromagnetic wave-generated ion wakefields can trap protons and accelerate them to high energies in dense plasmas.

We simulate fusion in a Z-pinch, where the load is a xenon-plasma liner imploding onto a deuterium–tritium (DT) plasma target and the driver is a 2 MJ, 17 MA, 95 ns risetime pulser. The implosion system is modeled using the dynamic, 2D, radiation-magnetohydrodynamic code, MACH2. During implosion a shock forms in the Xe liner, transporting current and energy radially inward. After collision with the DT, a secondary shock forms pre-heating the DT to several hundred electronvolts. Adiabatic compression leads subsequently to a fusion burn, as the target is surrounded by a flux-compressed, intense, azimuthal-magnetic field. The intense-magnetic field confines fusion α-particles, providing an additional source of ion heating that leads to target ignition. The target remains stable up to the time of ignition. Predictions are for a neutron yield of 3.0 × 1019 and a thermonuclear energy of 84 MJ, that is, 42 times greater than the initial, capacitor-stored energy.

The random walk of magnetic field lines in the presence of magnetic turbulence in plasmas is investigated from first principles. An isotropic model is employed for the magnetic turbulence spectrum. An analytical investigation of the asymptotic behavior of the field-line mean-square displacement 〈(Δx)2〉 is carried out, in terms of the position variable z. It is shown that 〈(Δx)2〉 varies as ~z ln z for large distance z. This result corresponds to a superdiffusive behavior of field line wandering. This investigation complements previous work, which relied on a two-component model for the turbulence spectrum. Contrary to that model, quasilinear theory appears to provide an adequate description of the field-line random walk for isotropic turbulence.

A theoretical study of the first-order stability analysis of an ion–acoustic solitary wave, propagating obliquely to an external uniform static magnetic field, has been made in a plasma consisting of warm adiabatic ions and a superposition of two distinct populations of electrons, one due to Cairns et al. and the other being the well-known Maxwell–Boltzmann distributed electrons. The weakly nonlinear and the weakly dispersive ion–acoustic wave in this plasma system can be described by the Korteweg–de Vries–Zakharov–Kuznetsov (KdV-ZK) equation and different modified KdV-ZK equations depending on the values of different parameters of the system. The nonlinear term of the KdV-ZK equation and the different modified KdV-ZK equations is of the form [φ(1)]ν(∂φ(1)/∂ζ), where ν = 1, 2, 3, 4; φ(1) is the first-order perturbed quantity of the electrostatic potential φ. For ν = 1, we have the usual KdV-ZK equation. Three-dimensional stability analysis of the solitary wave solutions of the KdV-ZK and different modified KdV-ZK equations has been investigated by the small-k perturbation expansion method of Rowlands and Infeld. For ν = 1, 2, 3, the instability conditions and the growth rate of instabilities have been obtained correct to order k, where k is the wave number of a long-wavelength plane-wave perturbation. It is found that ion–acoustic solitary waves are stable at least at the lowest order of the wave number for ν = 4.

We present a kinetic theory analysis of the electrostatic ion cyclotron (EIC) instability in a plasma containing positive ions, electrons, and negative ions that are much more massive than the positive ions. Conditions are investigated for exciting the fundamental and the higher harmonic EIC waves associated with each ion species. We find that as the concentration of heavy negative ions increases, the wave frequencies increase, the unstable spectrum in general shifts to longer perpendicular wavelengths, and the growth of higher harmonic EIC waves tends to increase within certain parameter ranges. Applications to possible laboratory plasmas are discussed.

This paper presents an analysis (in the paraxial approximation) of a self-consistent, steady-state, theoretical model, which explains the ring formation in a Gaussian electromagnetic beam propagating in a magnetoplasma, characterized by ponderomotive and collisional nonlinearities. The condition for the formation of a dark and a bright ring has been derived analytically and the focusing/defocusing of the beam has been investigated in the different regimes. Further, the effect of the magnetic field and the nature of the nonlinearity on the ring formation and self focusing of the beam have also been explored.

We characterize the electron density distributions of preformed plasma for laser-accelerated proton generation. The preformed plasma of a titanium target 3 μm thick is generated by prepulse and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of a high-intensity Ti:sapphire laser and is measured with an interferometer using a second harmonic probe beam. High-energy protons are obtained by reducing the size of the preformed plasma by changing the ASE duration before main pulse at the front side (laser incidence side) of the target. Simulation results with two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic code are close to the experimental results for low-density region ~4 × 1019 cm−3 at the front side. In the high-density region near to the target surface, the interferometry underestimates the density due to the substantial refraction. The characterization of hydrodynamic expansion with the interferometer and simulation is a useful tool for investigation of high-energy proton generation.

The influence of non-monochromaticity on low-frequency, large-scale zonal-flow nonlinear generation by small-scale magnetized Rossby (MR) waves in the Earth's ionospheric E-layer is considered. The modified parametric approach is used with an arbitrary spectrum of primary modes. It is shown that the broadening of the wave packet spectrum of pump MR waves leads to a resonant interaction with a growth rate of the order of the monochromatic case. In the case when zonal-flow generation by MR modes is prohibited by the Lighthill stability criterion, the so-called two-stream-like mechanism for the generation of sheared zonal flows by finite-amplitude MR waves in the ionospheric E-layer is possible. The growth rates of zonal-flow instabilities and the conditions for driving them are determined. The present theory can be used for the interpretation of the observations of Rossby-type waves in the Earth's ionosphere and in laboratory experiments.

A comparative study of the electromagnetic instabilities in anisotropic unmagnetized plasmas is undertaken. The instabilities considered are the filamentation and Weibel instability, and their cumulative effect. Dispersion relations are derived and the growth rates are plotted systematically for the representative cases of non-relativistic counterstreaming plasmas with isotropic or anisotropic velocity distributions functions of Maxwellian type. The pure filamentation mode is attenuated by including an isotropic Maxwellian distribution function. Moreover, it is observed that counterstreaming plasmas can be fully stabilized by including bi-Maxellian distributions with a negative thermal anisotropy. This effect is relevant for fusion plasma experiments. Otherwise, for plasma streams with a positive anisotropy the filamentation and Weibel instabilities cumulate leading to a growth rate by orders of magnitude larger than that of a simple filamentation mode. This is noticeable for the quasistatic magnetic field generated in astrophysical sources, and which is expected to saturate at higher values and explain the non-thermal emission observed.

A new set of equations describing the coupling of high-frequency electrostatic waves with ion fluctuations is obtained taking into account a non-thermal electron distribution. It is shown that there exist stationary envelope solitons which have qualitatively different structures from the solutions reported earlier. In particular, the Langmuir field envelopes are found with similar width and strong field intensities in comparison to the isothermal case. It is also shown that the presence of the fast or non-thermal electrons significantly modifies the nature of Langmuir solitons in the transition from a single-hump solution to a double-hump solution as the Mach number increases to unity. The low-frequency electrostatic potential associated with the high-frequency Langmuir field has the usual single-dip symmetric structure whose amplitude increases with increasing Mach number. Furthermore, the dip at the center of the double-hump Langmuir soliton is found to become smaller as the proportion of non-thermal electrons increases.

A perturbative three-dimensional analysis is presented of Alfvén waves in a magnetic X-point configuration with a strong longitudinal guide field. The waves are assumed to propagate in the direction of the X-line, and both the plasma beta and equilibrium plasma current are taken to be zero. This provides a simple model of Alfvén wave propagation in the divertor region of tokamak plasmas. It is shown that the presence of the X-point places constraints on the structure of the leading-order (shear Alfvén) eigenfunctions. These eigenfunctions, and fast wave corrections to them, are determined explicitly for two cases. In the first of these the stream function for the shear Alfvén flow is azimuthally symmetric in the X-point plane and singular at the X-line; in the second case the stream function is largely confined to two quadrants in the X-point plane and is non-singular. For the latter scenario it is shown that coupling of the shear and fast waves is strongly localized to the vicinity of the separatrix.

In this article we give the solution of Maxwell's equations for the open circular cylindrical magnetoactive semiconductor plasma (-gyrotropy) waveguides. We describe the method that allowed us to arrive at a dispersion equation for the electrodynamical analyses of open circular cylindrical plasma (OCCP) waveguides. We numerically investigate the main and two higher modes' dispersion characteristics of p-Ge and p-Si waveguides placed in an external constant longitudinal magnetic field at several concentrations of two component hole charge carriers. We analyse the cutoff frequency and other electrodynamical characteristics of helicon modes with the left-handed (e+iϕ) circular polarization. We discover that the cutoff frequencies of the main mode and the working frequency range of OCCP p-Ge and p-Si waveguides are moving continuously towards the direction of higher frequencies when the hole concentration is increasing. We determine that the central frequency of the p-Si plasma waveguide is higher and its broadbandwidth is larger compared with the analogical p-Ge waveguide. We also numerically investigate the helicon mode cutoff frequencies of the infinitive p-Ge and p-Si plasma at several concentrations of two component hole charge carriers. We compare the cutoff frequencies of the helicon modes propagating in the infinite plasma and in the OCCP waveguides.

An experiment of a virtual cathode oscillator (vircator) built on the low impedance intense electron beam accelerator Flash II is reported. A novel spectrum diagnosis method—a circulating dispersion line—is proposed. A thin oil layer coated graphite cathode is introduced in the experiment to decrease the delay time of the explosive emission process and obtain a homogeneous electron beam emission for improving the high-power microwave (HPM) generation efficiency. The effect of diode current on HPM generation in the vircator system is discussed. The HPM pulse width has a strong connection with the diode current waveform. For most shots, corresponding to the time that microwave emission starts, there is an inflection point in the diode current pulse. Compared with the case that no microwave is generated, the diode current increases more slowly following the inflection point. HPM generation terminates when the beam current reaches the self-pinching critical current of the diode.

The implosion dynamics and fusion parameters of a high density D-T fibre plasma driven by Z-pinch with current stepping technique is investigated. Our numerical results demonstrate that a current-stepping technique reduces the minimum pinch radius, and as a result high density, high temperature plasma can be formed. Thus a staged pinch device with current-stepping technique can be used as an alternative approach to achieve fusion conditions with relatively small values of discharge current and with a long pulse duration.

The acceleration of protons and electrons in a reconnecting current sheet (RCS) is simulated with a particle-in-cell (PIC) 2D3V (two-dimensional in space and three-dimensional in velocity space) code for the proton-to-electron mass ratio of 100. The electromagnetic configuration forming the RCS incorporates all three components of the magnetic field (including the guiding field) and a drifted electric field. PIC simulations reveal that there is a polarization electric field that appears during acceleration owing to a separation of electrons from protons towards the midplane of the RCS. If the plasma density is low, the polarization field is weak and the particle trajectories in the PIC simulations are similar to those in the test particle (TP) approach. For the higher plasma density the polarization field is stronger and it affects the trajectories of protons by increasing their orbits during acceleration. This field also leads to a less asymmetrical abundance of ejected protons towards the midplane in comparison with the TP approach. For a given magnetic topology electrons in PIC simulations are ejected to the same semispace as protons, in contrast to the TP results. This happens because the polarization field extends far beyond the thickness of a current sheet. This field decelerates the electrons, which are initially ejected into the semispace opposite to the protons, returns them back to the RCS, and, eventually, leads to the electron ejection into the same semispace as protons. The energy distribution of the ejected electrons is rather wide and single-peaked, in contrast to the two-peak narrow-energy distribution obtained in the TP approach. In the case of a strong guiding field, the mean energy of the ejected electrons is found to be smaller than it is predicted analytically and by the TP simulations. The beam of accelerated electrons is also found to generate turbulent electric field in the form of Langmuir waves.

The model of two-fluid, axisymmetric, ambipolar magnetized plasma detachment from thruster guide fields is extended to include plasmas with non-zero injection angular velocity profiles. Certain plasma injection angular velocity profiles are shown to narrow the plasma plume, thereby increasing exhaust efficiency. As an example, we consider a magnetic guide field arising from a simple current ring and demonstrate plasma injection schemes that more than double the fraction of useful exhaust aperture area, more than halve the exhaust plume angle, and enhance magnetized plasma detachment.

We study the propagation and damping of small-amplitude prominence oscillations invoking steady flow and radiative losses due to Newton's cooling with constant relaxation time. We find that the strength of steady flow has a large influence on the propagation (e.g. period, phase velocity) of wave modes. In the presence of steady flow, the thermal mode is a propagating wave and hence it can be observed in solar prominences. The thermal mode contributes to the non-thermal line broadening in the solar atmosphere. The steady flow does not affect the damping time of the wave modes. The damping of slow and thermal modes is highly dependent on the radiative relaxation time. The thermal perturbation, in the presence of steady flow, is found to be larger in the case of the thermal mode than in the slow and fast modes. The energy flux (~300 W m−2) associated with the thermal mode is sufficient to heat the quiet regions of the Sun. The slow mode contribution to non-thermal broadening has been estimated. The non-thermal broadening is found to be large in the case of the prominence with large characteristic length. The steady flow, in the presence of Newton's cooling, breaks the symmetry between the forward and backward propagating modes. No modes with negative energy have been found. For strong flows (above 10 km s−1), the canonical backward wave propagates in the forward direction, which can play an important role in wave detection and prominence seismology.

Linear and nonlinear properties of the two-dimensional obliquely propagating dust magnetosonic wave are studied in a three-component dusty plasma. The dispersion relations in the linear and Kadomstev–Petviashvili (KP) equation in the nonlinear regime are derived for small-amplitude perturbations. It is shown that the linear dispersion properties of the low-frequency dust magnetosonic wave depend on the angle θ that the magnetic field makes with the x-axis, the ratio of ion to electron concentration, and the plasma beta. It is found that retaining the electron pressure term gives rise to novel features in the dust magnetosonic wave. The slow magnetosonic wave is found to be the damped mode and, therefore, the only propagating mode in our system is the fast magnetosonic mode. It is found that the KP equation admits compressive solitary structures. Finally, it is found that the amplitude of the soliton increases as the ratio of electron to ion concentration, p, angle θ, and the plasma beta, β, is increased.

Imploding z-pinch shells with total currents that are proportional to some power of time are investigated. Time-space separable self-similar solutions with cylindrical symmetry are explicitly obtained. The problem is treated asymptotically in high thermal conductivity within the model of magnetized resistive plasmas, while the ionization and radiation processes are ignored.

In this paper the evolution of species densities up to the saturation limit in pulsed dielectric barrier discharges in atmospheric air plasma is predicted. The saturation limit itself is presented in the form of an exponential equation and is validated by computer modeling of continuity equations and atmospheric reactions coupled with appropriate dielectric dependent boundary conditions. Microdischarge streamer times are treated independently and a profile of the species generation due to all microdischarges within the plasma is presented. Quasi-neutrality is assumed for calculations and a theoretical maximum value for species densities in such a plasma is additionally outlined. Results show a good agreement between simulated and calculated values and serve to illustrate the onset of saturation in atmospheric pressure plasmas in general. Practical conditions of voltage, gap distance and frequency are incorporated so as to make the model as realistic as possible.