Wave propagation in a hot nonuniform magnetized plasma

Slow-wave antenna coupling to ion Bernstein waves for plasma heating in ICRF

“…In a description of ion Bernstein waves finite temperature effects have to be taken into account, while in a consideration of fast waves spatial gradient effects should be incorporated, since the ICRF wavelengths of fast waves in present-day laboratory plasmas are comparable to scalelengths of non-uniformities. A general theory of plasma waves, including both finite temperature effects and spatial gradient effects, is known to be rather complicated [13][14][15]. In this section, a system of differential equations, which is sufficient to model the antenna/plasma coupling problems considered in this paper, is derived from kinetic theory.…”

Dispersion relations in hot magnetized plasmas

“…This allows to expand the particle orbits around their trajectories, to integrate the unperturbed trajectories through explicit formulas, to perform a Fourier analysis of the linearized Vlasov equation, and to employ a fixed decomposition of the velocityp into two componentsp andp ⊥ which are respectively parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field. For many technical reasons, the preceding procedures [2,11,22,32,33,35] do not apply appropriately in the presence of realistic inhomogeneities. On the one hand, they rely on hypotheses that could be questionable.…”

“…On the other hand, they often use non local arguments in space or in time (especially when integrating the Vlasov equation), while the dispersion relations should emanate from a local space-time analysis. For all theses reasons, the approaches [2,11,22,32,33,35] bring answers that need to be completed. Indeed, they are not able to fully capture the underlying geometry, which is essential to really understand wave propagation.…”

“…However, the presence of inhomogeneities is complicated to simulate. This is probably why, despite some attempts [33], this subject has not been completely studied. Another reason is, without a doubt, a general principle of physics according to which a dispersion relation can be obtained by analyzing a plane monochromatic wave in a homogeneous medium, and then letting the medium's properties (in the dielectric tensor) vary slowly in position.…”

Transverse electromagnetic modes in a hot cylindrical plasma column

“…In this paper the general dielectric tensor for an arbitrary population in the plasma is presented, including finite-ion-gyroradius effects up to the first harmonic (w « 2w ca ), under the assumption that k\p\ <^ 1, where k x is the radial wavenumber and p a = v Ta /o) ca (v Ta and u> ca are respectively the thermal velocity and the cyclotron frequency of species a). This derivation is presented from first principles in the appendix, by applying the method presented by Sy & Cotsaftis (1979) for a homogeneous plasma column, since this method can be extended to an inhomogeneous plasma. This allows emphasis on the contribution to the dielectric tensor from the different approximations in the finite-gyroradius expansion.…”