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Ion-Induced Instability of Diocotron Modes in Electron Plasmas Modelling Curvature-Driven Flute Modes
Volume 51 · Number 2T · February 2007 · Pages 96-99
Technical Paper · Open Magnetic Systems for Plasma Confinement
A. A. Kabantsev, C. F. Driscoll (18R13)
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We study ion-induced instability of flute-like (kz [approximately equal to] 0) diocotron modes in pure electron plasmas confined in a cylindrical Penning-Malmberg trap. In the absence of positive ion contamination, the low m diocotron modes are either neutrally stable (for m = 1) or weakly damped (for m = 2,3...) by Landau resonance on electrons corotating with the diocotron waves. By adding a small fraction (<1%) of positive ions into a double-well confinement configuration, we observe exponential instability of low m diocotron modes. The growth rates  m are directly proportional to the overall ion fraction, Ni/Ne, and proportional to an effective charge separation of electrons and ions in the periodic wave perturbation.
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