Kinetics of three-dimensional Langmuir collapse

The final stage of evolution of a three-dimensional Langmuir cavity is investigated by the particle simulation. A bright picture of collapse is obtained. The main characteristics of the cavity and its interaction with the electrons differ significantly from the analogous quantities obtained in the two-dimensional calculations. The large minimal size of the cavity (∼16rD) and the degree of its anisotropy are in agreement with those obtained experimentally. The burning out of the highly intense structure is accompanied by the formation of vortexes in phase space, by the formation of multilows and outflow of an appreciable number of particles from the cavity