Kinetic Current‐Convective Instability in Hot Electron Plasma

The kinetic current‐convective instability excited in a hot electron plasma, i.e. for T e ≫ T i , is investigated in the linear stage. Density and temperature of plasma components have gradients along the x ‐direction. In the absence of longitudinal current ( u = 0) and homogeneous temperature the instability is also excited with maximum growth rate much exceeding that obtained in the case of u ≠ 0. Gradual increasing of the ion temperature over that of the electrons and a large density gradient leads to reduce the instability in the linear stage.