The nonlinear behaviour of unstable drift waves in magnetized plasmas is analysed analytically. Most attention is paid to low-frequency waves created in electron density and temperature gradients of opposite sign. This situation is typically encountered in radiofrequency-produced discharges. The model developed explains nonlinear features such as mode competition, amplitude saturation and magnetic field hysteresis, which are observed experimentally.

Low-frequency density and temperature oscillations (ω « νj, ωcj, where νj is the collision frequency with neutrals and ωcj is the cyclotron frequency; j = i, e) observed in magnetized radiofrequency-produced plasmas with electron density and temperature gradients across the magnetic field are analysed using a local two-fluid model. This model incorporates the electron energy equation. The resulting dispersion relation permits study of the parameter dependence of the complex angular wave frequency. Instability is found in the case where the election density and temperature gradients have opposite signs. This instability is classified as a low-frequency drift wave, and the criteria for its onset are obtained.

The thermal instability of a compressible plasma in a porous medium is considered in the presence of a uniform vertical magnetic field to include the Hall-current and finite-Larmor-radius effects. The system is found to be stable for (cp/g) β < 1, where cp, β and g are the specific heat at constant-pressure, the uniform adverse temperature gradient and the acceleration due to gravity respectively. The uniform vertical magnetic field, Hall-current and finite. Laimor-radius effects introduce oscillatory modes in the system for (cp/g) β ≤ 1, which were non-existent in their absence. The Hall current and finite Larmor radius (FLR) individually have destabilizing and stabilizing effects respectively on the system. In their simultaneous presence there is competition between the destabilizing role of the Hall current and the stabilizing role of the FLR, and each succeeds in stabilizing a certain wavenumber range. In the absence of a magnetic field (and hence the absence of an FLR and Hall current), the destabilizing effect of medium permeability is seen, but in the presence of a magnetic field (and hence the presence of an FLR and Hall current), the medium permeability may have a stabilizing or a destabilizing effect on the thermal instability of the plasma. The effect of compressibility is found to postpone the onset of thermal instability in plasma.

The turbulence of the toroidal ηi mode has a forward spectral cascade. This means that most of the energy initially placed in the low-wavenumber region (the linear instability region) will be spread out towards high-wavenumber modes. Therefore the linear instability may be reduced by this energy cascade. An elementary estimate of the critical amplitude for nonlinear mode coupling to balance the linear growth rate is given. As a consequence of three wave cascade process derivable from the fully toroidal fluid model equations, the formation of zonal flows ηi-mode turbulence is predicted.

An increase in the expansion rate towards vacuum of a plasma column with density of order 108 cm−3 and radius 0·5–2·0 mm produced by photoionization in the presence of a 9·4 GHz microwave field is found. The microwave field imposed by the TEM005 Gaussian mode of a spherical Fabry–Pérot resonator acts on the plasma through its ponderornotive force. First, the use of a potential barrier spectrometer allows us to measure the increase, in the number and energy of escaping electrons compared with the same plasma without microwave field. Secondly, the expansion of the modified photoplasma is checked by applying a small polarization voltage on the Fabry-Pérot mirrors to collect the ions. In the presence of the microwave field the time-resolved ion peak. Which presents a two-lobe profile faster than the single one observed without the field, indicates strong modification of the plasma dynamics. All these observations are interpreted by a simple model including the ponderomotive microwave force and the electrostatic plasma force, which act in opposite directions.

We study the stability of the cold-plasma dispersion relation for circularly polarized waves in a plasma composed of an ion background and an ion beam. The presence of the beam introduces a resonant branch into the dispersion relation for right-hand-polarized waves propagating in the direction of the external magnetic field, which, for V>Vφ, has negative energy (here V is the beam velocityVφ is the wave phase velocity). Therefore this branch may give rise to explosive instabilities when the waves experience parametric decays. It is shown graphically that resonant right-hand-polarized and non-resonant left-hand-polarized waves, propagating parallel to the external magnetic field, can be unstable. It is also shown that the instability region can extend to large frequencies and wavenumnbers, and that the instability regions have a band structure. The parametric dependence of instability thresholds and marginal modes is also studied.

The expansion of a bounded plasma with dust particles is investigated by means of computer modelling, taking into account the dynamics of the dust particle charge as well as the Coulomb collisions of electrons and ions with dust particles. The PIC method is used for the computer modelling. The collection of electrons and ions by dust particles is described in a way similar to orbit-limited probe theory. Coulomb interactions are described in the framework of stochastic differential equations. It is shown that the mean distribution functions of electrons and ions are influenced by the dust particles during plasma expansion. The evolution of the ion distribution function leads to a strong deviation from equilibrium. Dust particles also influence the temporal behaviour of the plasma parameters.

The general transfer integrals describing the collisional exchange of momentum and energy between the constituents of multicoimponent gases are evaluated for different plasma scenarios characterized by Maxwellian as well as non-Maxwellian distribution functions of the plasma species. Following a brief presentation of the standard approximation frequently employed in the literature, a comparison of numerical evaluations of the transfer integrals for various distribution functions reveals significant differences in the corresponding collisional momentum and energy exchange rates, which are shown to depend mainly on the core structure of the distributions. We demonstrate the inadequacy of the standard approximation and hence the importance of an accurate evaluation of the transfer integrals with an application to the electron proton as well as the helium proton interaction in the solar wind plasma.

Two-dimensional shear Alfvén-wave turbulence is investigated for a plasma with arbitrary β value. A set of three equations, which reduces to the derivative nonlinear Schrödinger equation in the limit of parallel propagation, is derived. The genuinely two-dimensional case is governed by two coupled equations. For a non-parallel one-dimensional space dependence, the nonlinearity is shown to vanish to all orders.

The warm-fluid equation derived from the drift kinetic equation is solved numerically to investigate the electrostatic low-frequency stability of an electron ribbon beam drifting in the crossed-fields of a planar magnetron. The temperature effect is manifested only for oblique propagation with respect to the drifting beam direction. The dispersion relation takes the form ω = ω(k⊥/ks∥) = ω(ks∥/k⊥), where k⊥ and k⊥ are respectively the components of the surface wave vector k parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field. The obliqueness of the propagation direction and the non-zero temperature give rise to a resonant instability, in addition to the diocotron instability, and the wavenumber corresponding to the maximum diocotron growth rate shifts as the temperature changes.

In a recent paper, Desai et al. (1994) have reported the observed characteristics of the specularly reflected laser light from a copper plasma created by laser irradiation of a planar copper target. They have measured specular reflection, and attributed the observed diffusivity of specularly reflected radiation to the curved and rippled surface at the radiation turning point in the plasma. The aim of this comment is to reanalyse the possible causes for the diffusion of specular reflection relevant to their experimental conditions.