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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Quantum corrections to nonlinear ion acoustic wave with Landau damping

Quantum corrections to nonlinear ion acoustic wave with Landau damping have been computed using Wigner equation approach. The dynamical equation governing the time development of nonlinear ion acoustic wave with semiclassical quantum corrections is shown to have the form of higher KdV equation which has higher order nonlinear terms coming from quantum corrections, with the usual classical and quantum corrected Landau damping integral terms. The conservation of total number of ions is shown from the evolution equation. The decay rate of KdV solitary wave amplitude due to the presence of Landau damping terms has been calculated assuming the Landau damping parameter α{sub 1}=√(m{sub e}/m{sub i}) to be of the same order of the quantum parameter Q=ℏ{sup 2}/(24m{sup 2}c{sub s}{sup 2}L{sup 2}). The amplitude is shown to decay very slowly with time as determined by the quantum factor Q.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

The parametric decay of dust ion acoustic waves in non-uniform quantum dusty magnetoplasmas

The parametric decay instability of a dust ion acoustic wave into low-frequency electrostatic dust-lower-hybrid and electromagnetic shear Alfven waves has been investigated in detail in an inhomogeneous cold quantum dusty plasma in the presence of external/ambient uniform magnetic field. The quantum magnetohydrodynamic model of plasmas with quantum effect arising through the Bohm potential and Fermi degenerate pressure has been employed in order to find the linear and nonlinear responses of the plasma particles for three-wave nonlinear coupling in a dusty magnetoplasma. A relatively high frequency electrostatic dust ion acoustic wave has been taken as the pump wave. It couples with two other low-frequency internal possible modes of the dusty magnetoplasma, viz., the dust-lower-hybrid and shear Alfven waves. The nonlinear dispersion relation of the dust-lower-hybrid wave has been solved to obtain the growth rate of the parametric decay instability. The growth rate is at a maximum for a small value of the external magnetic field B{sub 0}. It is noted that the growth rate is proportional to the unperturbed electron number density n{sub oe} and is independent of inhomogeneity beyond L{sub e}=2 cm. An extraordinary growth rate is observed with the quantum effect.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Drift and ion acoustic wave driven vortices with superthermal electrons

Linear and nonlinear analysis of coupled drift and acoustic mode is presented in an inhomogeneous electron-ion plasma with {kappa}-distributed electrons. A linear dispersion relation is found which shows that the phase speed of both the drift wave and the ion acoustic wave decreases in the presence of superthermal electrons. Several limiting cases are also discussed. In the nonlinear regime, stationary solutions in the form of dipolar and monopolar vortices are obtained. It is shown that the condition for the boundedness of the solution implies that the speed of drift wave driven vortices reduces with increase in superthermality effect. Ignoring density inhomogeniety, it is investigated that the lower and upper limits on the speed of the ion acoustic driven vortices spread with the inclusion of high energy electrons. The importance of results with reference to space plasmas is also pointed out.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Ion acoustic waves and double-layers in electronegative expanding plasmas

Ion acoustic waves and double-layers are observed in expanding plasmas in electronegative gases, i.e., plasmas containing an appreciable fraction of negative ions. The reported experiments are performed in argon gas with a variable amount of SF{sub 6}. When varying the amount of SF{sub 6}, the negative ion fraction increases and three main regimes were identified previously: (i) the plasma smoothly expands at low negative ion fraction, (ii) a static double-layer (associated with an abrupt potential drop and ion acceleration) forms at intermediate negative ion fraction, (iii) double-layers periodically form and propagate (in the plasma expansion direction) at high negative ion fraction. In this paper, we show that transition phases exist in between these regimes, where fluctuations are observed. These fluctuations are unstable slow ion acoustic waves, propagating in the direction opposite to the plasma expansion. These fluctuations are excited by the most unstable eigenmodes and display turbulent features. It is suggested that the static double layer forms when the ion acoustic fluctuations become non-linearly unstable: the double layer regime being a bifurcated state of the smoothly expanding regime. For the highest negative ion fraction, a coexistence of (upstream propagating) slow ion acoustic fluctuations and (downstream) propagating double layers was observed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Creating and studying ion acoustic waves in ultracold neutral plasmas

We excite ion acoustic waves in ultracold neutral plasmas by imprinting density modulations during plasma creation. Laser-induced fluorescence is used to observe the density and velocity perturbations created by the waves. The effect of expansion of the plasma on the evolution of the wave amplitude is described by treating the wave action as an adiabatic invariant. After accounting for this effect, we determine that the waves are weakly damped, but the damping is significantly faster than expected for Landau damping.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Nonlinear ion acoustic waves in a quantum degenerate warm plasma with dust grains

A study is made of the propagation of ion acoustic waves in a collisionless unmagnetized dusty plasma containing degenerate ion and electron gases at nonzero temperatures. In linear theory, a dispersion relation for isothermal ion acoustic waves is derived and an exact expression for the linear ion acoustic velocity is obtained. The dependence of the linear ion acoustic velocity on the dust density in a plasma is calculated. An analysis of the dispersion relation reveals parameter ranges in which the problem has soliton solutions. In nonlinear theory, an exact solution to the basic equations is found and examined. The analysis is carried out by Bernoulli's pseudopotential method. The ranges of the phase velocities of periodic ion acoustic waves and the velocities of solitons are determined. It is shown that these ranges do not overlap and that the soliton velocity cannot be lower than the linear ion acoustic velocity. The profiles of the physical quantities in a periodic wave and in a soliton are evaluated, as well as the dependence of the critical velocity of solitons on the dust density in a plasma.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Stability of two-dimensional ion-acoustic wave packets in quantum plasmas

The nonlinear propagation of two-dimensional (2D) quantum ion-acoustic waves (QIAWs) is studied in a quantum electron-ion plasma. By using a 2D quantum hydrodynamic model and the method of multiple scales, a new set of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations is derived which governs the slow modulation of the 2D QIAW packets. The oblique modulational instability (MI) is then studied by means of a corresponding nonlinear Schroedinger equation derived from the coupled nonlinear partial differential equations. It is shown that the quantum parameter H (ratio of the plasmon energy density to Fermi energy) shifts the MI domains around the k{theta} -plane, where k is the carrier wave number and {theta} is the angle of modulation. In particular, the ion-acoustic wave (IAW), previously known to be stable under parallel modulation in classical plasmas, is shown to be unstable in quantum plasmas. The growth rate of the MI is found to be quenched by the obliqueness of modulation. The modulation of 2D QIAW packets along the wave vector k is shown to be described by a set of Davey-Stewartson-like equations. The latter can be studied for the 2D wave collapse in dense plasmas. The predicted results, which could be important to look for stable wave propagation in laboratory experiments as well as in dense astrophysical plasmas, thus generalize the theory of MI of IAW propagations both in classical and quantum electron-ion plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Investigation of nonextensivity trapped electrons effect on the solitary ion-acoustic wave using fractional Schamel equation

Ion-acoustic (IA) solitary wave propagation is investigated by solving the fractional Schamel equation (FSE) in a homogenous system of unmagnetized plasma. This plasma consists of the nonextensive trapped electrons and cold fluid ions. The effects of the nonextensive q-parameter, electron trapping, and fractional parameter have been studied. The FSE is derived by using the semi-inverse and Agrawal's methods. The analytical results show that an increase in the amount of electron trapping and nonextensive q-parameter increases the soliton ion-acoustic amplitude in agreement with the previously obtained results. However, it is vice-versa for the fractional parameter. This feature leads to the fact that the fractional parameter may be used to increase the IA soliton amplitude instead of increasing electron trapping and nonextensive parameters.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

The collision effect between dust grains and ions to the dust ion acoustic waves in a dusty plasma

Damping solitary wave in dusty plasma is studied by considering the collision effect between dust grains and ions. It can be described by a KdV type equation in which a damping term of {phi}{sup 2} exist. It is found that both the amplitude and propagation velocity of the solitary wave decrease with time exponentially. Our results are compared with another KdV type equation with the damping term of {phi}. It is noted that the damping rate of the KdV type equation with the damping term of {phi}{sup 2} is larger than that with the term of {phi}. It is found that the damping rate is proportional to the collision frequency between dust grains and ions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2016

Growth and Saturation of Ion Acoustic Waves in Hall Thrusters

In this paper we present for the first time a conjecture that the electron transport in Hall thrusters is controlled by ion acoustic waves in two distinct ion populations. The first, and largest population, is the main beam, an ion fluid generated upstream of the Acceleration Region. These ions experience electrons with largest ExB drift, but because beam ions have been heated during the ionization process, Landau damping limits the growth of ion acoustic waves. The second population is composed of ions generated at low potentials farther downstream that don’t thermalize with the fast moving ion beam. The existence of this separate population has been recognized for decades as the source of the high angle ions in Hall thruster plumes. Because these ions aren’t heated and have velocities much different from main beam ions, the amplitude of ion acoustic waves in this population is not Landau damped and grows to saturation. Scattering from these waves reduces the Hall parameter in the near plume where slow ions make up a significant fraction of the population.

Katz, Ira↗
DOE OSTI2011

Modulational instability of ion-acoustic waves in plasmas with superthermal electrons

Using the reductive perturbation technique, the modulational instability of ion- acoustic waves in a plasma containing superthermal electrons is studied. It is found that the presence of superthermal electrons significantly changes the instability domain. A Lorentzian (kappa) velocity distribution function is used to model superthermal electrons. It is shown that the presence of superthermal electrons reduces the critical frequency of the modulational instability of ion-acoustic waves. Besides, due to the presence of the superthermal electrons, ion-acoustic waves are unstable on a vaster region. Moreover, the modulational instability growth rate is larger for a larger population of superthermal electrons.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Enhanced damping of ion acoustic waves in dense plasmas

A theory for the ion-acoustic wave damping in dense plasmas and warm dense matter, accounting for the Umklapp process, is presented. A higher decay rate compared to the prediction from the Landau damping theory is predicted for high-Z dense plasmas, where the electron density ranges from 10{sup 21} to 10{sup 24} cm{sup -3} and the electron temperature is moderately higher than the Fermi energy.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Multi-dimensional dynamics of stimulated Brillouin scattering in a laser speckle: Ion acoustic wave bowing, breakup, and laser-seeded two-ion-wave decay

Two- and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in laser speckle geometry have been analyzed to evaluate the relative importance of competing nonlinear processes in the evolution and saturation of SBS. It is found that ion-trapping-induced wavefront bowing and breakup of ion acoustic waves (IAW) and the associated side-loss of trapped ions dominate electron-trapping-induced IAW wavefront bowing and breakup, as well as the two-ion-wave decay instability over a range of ZTe/Ti conditions and incident laser intensities. In the simulations, the latter instability does not govern the nonlinear saturation of SBS; however, evidence of two-ion-wave decay is seen, appearing as a modulation of the ion acoustic wavefronts. This modulation is periodic in the laser polarization plane, anti-symmetric across the speckle axis, and of a wavenumber matching that of the incident laser pulse. A simple analytic model is provided for how spatial “imprinting” from a high frequency inhomogeneity (in this case, the density modulation from the laser) in an unstable system with continuum eigenmodes can selectively amplify modes with wavenumbers that match that of the inhomogeneity.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Argon–oxygen dc magnetron discharge plasma probed with ion acoustic waves

The precise determination of the relative concentration of negative ions is very important for the optimization of magnetron sputtering processes, especially for those undertaken in a multicomponent background produced by adding electronegative gases, such as oxygen, to the discharge. The temporal behavior of an ion acoustic wave excited from a stainless steel grid inside the plasma chamber is used to determine the relative negative ion concentration in the magnetron discharge plasma. The phase velocity of the ion acoustic wave in the presence of negative ions is found to be faster than in a pure argon plasma, and the phase velocity increases with the oxygen partial pressure. Optical emission spectroscopy further confirms the increase in the oxygen negative ion density, along with a decrease in the argon positive ion density under the same discharge conditions. The relative negative ion concentration values measured by ion acoustic waves are compared with those measured by a single Langmuir probe, and a similarity in the results obtained by both techniques is observed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
NASA NTRS1980

The observation and production of ion acoustic waves during the Trigger experiment

The third flight of the Trigger experiment is described here. Band-limited electric field and density waves were observed shortly after the ion cloud was detected. Since the electric field and density components had similar spectral shape and the wave electric field was oriented parallel to the ambient magnetic field, the waves were identified as collisionless ion acoustic waves. The linear theory of ion-ion streaming is considered a likely generation mechanism for the waves.

Kintner, P. M.↗