Laboratory evidence for stochastic plasma-wave growth

The first laboratory confirmation of stochastic growth theory is reported. Floating potential fluctuations are measured in a vacuum arc centrifuge using a Langmuir probe. Statistical analysis of the energy density reveals a lognormal distribution over roughly 2 orders of magnitude, with a high-field...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Physical review letters Vol. 99; no. 20; p. 205004
Main Authors:	Austin, D R, Hole, M J, Robinson, P A, Cairns, Iver H, Dallaqua, R
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States 16-11-2007
Subjects:	CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS ENERGY DENSITY FLUCTUATIONS LANGMUIR PROBE NONLINEAR PROBLEMS PLASMA CENTRIFUGES PLASMA WAVES SPACE DEPENDENCE STOCHASTIC PROCESSES
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Summary:	The first laboratory confirmation of stochastic growth theory is reported. Floating potential fluctuations are measured in a vacuum arc centrifuge using a Langmuir probe. Statistical analysis of the energy density reveals a lognormal distribution over roughly 2 orders of magnitude, with a high-field nonlinear cutoff whose spatial dependence is consistent with the predicted eigenmode profile. These results are consistent with stochastic growth and nonlinear saturation of a spatially extended eigenmode, the first evidence for stochastic growth of an extended structure.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0031-9007 1079-7114
DOI:	10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.205004