The electron beam cyclotron instability of a beam-plasma system in a magnetic beach

We study the development of the electron cyclotron instability of a beam-plasma system in a magnetic beach. Beaches of positive as well as of negative B-field gradient are considered. The frequency spectrum shows either one or two cyclotron peaks depending on the B-field inhomogeneity. The central frequencies of these peaks, as opposed to their amplitudes, are independent of both the axial and radial positions of the measuring probe. The experimental results are interpreted in terms of the analysis of the instability frequency spectrum theoretically constructed from the space-time evolution, in the WKB approximation, of unstable electron cyclotron waves. (author)