DOE OSTI · 1800227
Hot electrons between cold walls
Abstract
We consider electron cooling in a collisionless plasma slab between two cold and freely emitting walls. Numerical calculations suggest a counterintuitive behavior of this system: the cooling rate slows down and eventually stops, leaving the system with a significant fraction of its initial thermal energy. Analytical treatment within the Vlasov–Poisson model reveals a set of steady-states with a two-component distribution of electrons: the primary electrons trapped within the potential wells and the secondary electrons forming the counterstreaming beams. We show that such steady-states are linearly stable with respect to one-dimensional perturbations. Establishment of a particular steady-state depends on initial conditions.
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Kiramov, Dmitrii I., Breizman, Boris N.. 2020-02-01. Hot electrons between cold walls. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5134499
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