Published July 1, 2005 | Version v1
Journal article

Experimental Observation of a Periodically Oscillating Plasma Sphere in a Gridded Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Device

  • 1. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 (United States)
  • 2. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544 (United States)

Description

The periodically oscillating plasma sphere (POPS) [D. C. Barnes and R. A. Nebel, Phys. Plasmas 5, 2498 (1998).] oscillation has been observed in a gridded inertial electrostatic confinement device. In these experiments, ions in the virtual cathode exhibit resonant behavior when driven at the POPS frequency. Excellent agreement between the observed POPS resonance frequency and theoretical predictions has been observed for a wide range of potential well depths and for three different ion species. The results provide the first experimental validation of the POPS concept proposed by Barnes and Nebel [R. A. Nebel and D. C. Barnes, Fusion Technol. 34, 28 (1998).]

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review Letters
Journal Volume
95
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
p. 015003-015003.4
ISSN
0031-9007
CODEN
PRLTAO

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
37012339
Subject category
S70: PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY;
Descriptors DEI
CATHODES; INERTIAL CONFINEMENT; IONS; OSCILLATIONS; PERIODICITY; PLASMA; PLASMA WAVES; RESONANCE; SPHERES; VALIDATION
Descriptors DEC
CHARGED PARTICLES; CONFINEMENT; ELECTRODES; PLASMA CONFINEMENT; TESTING; VARIATIONS

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2005 American Institute of Physics