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Ionization wave as an Instability — Evolution and Nonlinear Effect
Author(s) -
Sato Masumi
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
beiträge aus der plasmaphysik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.531
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1521-3986
pISSN - 0005-8025
DOI - 10.1002/ctpp.19730130103
Subject(s) - instability , ionization , atomic physics , amplitude , plasma , xenon , excited state , argon , nonlinear system , physics , saturation (graph theory) , two stream instability , mechanics , ion , optics , quantum mechanics , mathematics , combinatorics
Evolution from the linear growth to the nonlinearly saturated state of ionization waves (moving striations) is investigated from a viewpoint of an instability which appears in a plasma. The experiments were performed observing backward waves excited below the upper critical current I c in xenon, argon, and argon‐mercury gases at pressures of the order of Torr. It is found that (1) the behavior of the evolution obeys the Landau amplitude equation; (2) the saturated amplitude does not depend on an initial value, but only on plasma parameters; (3) the linear growth and squared saturation level are proportional to the excess over I c , and when frequency‐controlled, they have a parabolic dependence on the frequency; and (4) nonuniform axial changes in the dc state due to the nonlinear effects appear in a form of enhanced ionization in the plasma where the electron temperature and density are increased. The way of these behavior can be applied to a large number of spatially or temporally unstable modes.