Instabilities in the plasma focus
Abstract
The compression stage of the focusing plasma is described using a snowplow model. It is shown that sophisticated MHD calculations substantiate the snowplow theory, but are not suited to describe the phenomena in the final compressed stage. For this purpose, a particle-in-cell calculation is employed, yielding a beam-beam collision model for the neutron production. Experimental evidence indicates that neutron production is associated with the appearance of m=0 instabilities and is the direct result of collisions between anomalously accelerated ions. One of the mechanisms of ion acceleration are strong local electric fields. Another possible mechanism can be seen in beam-plasma instabilities caused by runaway electrons. The analytical derivation of the dispersion relation for plasma focus conditions including runaway effect is discussed.
- Publication:
-
Presented at the 2nd Intern. Congr. on Waves and Instabilities in Plasmas
- Pub Date:
- 1975
- Bibcode:
- 1975wip..cong...17K
- Keywords:
-
- Dense Plasmas;
- Focusing;
- High Temperature Plasmas;
- Magnetohydrodynamic Stability;
- Plasma Dynamics;
- Compressing;
- Controlled Fusion;
- Fusion Reactors;
- Neutron Sources;
- Particle In Cell Technique;
- Plasma Physics