Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 August 2010
Dispersion relation for the low-frequency magnetic electron-drift vortex (MEDV) mode in an inhomogeneous dense quantum plasma has been derived. New class of purely growing instabilities are found to exist on a time scale of the order of ion plasma period. We found that the MEDV mode become unstable when the propagation direction is perpendicular to the equilibrium density gradients. We believe that the present investigation would be useful to understand the wave phenomena and in the study of magnetic field generation in laser-produced plasmas as well as in dense space plasmas, where quantum effects are expected to play a dominant role.