Experiments on both stationary and propagating double layers and a related analytical model are described. Stationary double layers with eΔφ/kTe≳1 were produced in a multiple plasma device, in which an electron drift current was present. An investigation of the plasma parameters for the stable double layer condition is described. The particle distribution in the stable double layer establishes a potential profile, which creates electron and ion beams that excite plasma instabilities. The measured characteristics of the instabilities are consistent with the existence of the double layer. Propagating double layers are formed when the initial electron drift current is large. The slopes of the transition region increase as they propagate. A physical model for the formation of a double layer in the experimental device is described. This model explains the formation of the low potential region on the basis of the space charge. This space charge is created by the electron drift current. The model also accounts for the role of ions in double layer formation and explains the formation of moving double layers.
Electron-plasma waves driven unstable by an electron beam are observed to be backscattered by stationary density perturbations to form standing waves. Above a certain threshold these standing waves develop into sharply localized ('^ lOXj^ intense fields, E^r^/Ai-nn^KT^^ 1. Significant fractions of beam electrons are scattered in velocity space by these stationary spikes of high-frequency field.
High-beta, hot-electron plasmas have been produced by electron-cyclotron heating in the SM-1 axisymmetric mirror using closely-spaced multiple frequencies. The relativistic electrons produce annular distributions (ELMO rings) with as much as ten times more stored energy than with single-frequency heating. While larger frequency separations (Δf/f∼0.1) provide some control of the ring size, the dominant effects are associated with an improvement in heating efficiency which persists to very small frequency separations (Δf/f∼10−3). Details of the reconstruction of the ring distribution (both in steady state and during build-up), the influence of multiple frequency heating on fluctuations, axial electron losses, and a scaling of these effects with power are presented.
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