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Characteristics of two types of beam plasma discharge in a laboratory experiment
Author(s) -
Boswell R. W.,
Kellogg Paul J.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl010i007p00565
Subject(s) - plasma , beam (structure) , atomic physics , physics , magnetic field , scaling , ignition system , cathode ray , luminosity , electron , flux (metallurgy) , shock wave , shock (circulatory) , materials science , astrophysics , optics , nuclear physics , mechanics , medicine , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , galaxy , metallurgy , thermodynamics
Experiments on the Beam Plasma Discharge (BPD) using an electron beam traveling along a magnetic field have been carried out in a large volume laboratory vacuum chamber. Two different types of BPD have been observed, and scaling laws for varying neutral gas pressure, axial magnetic field, interaction length and electron flux, deduced. The second type of BPD occurs when the beam current is increased well above the threshold for the first type. The transition from the first type to the second, like the ignition of the first, is distinguished by abrupt changes of luminosity, discharge diameter, and wave emission signature.