The Magnetic Field Scaling of Asymmetry-Induced Transport in Non-Neutral Plasmas.

Abstract

Plasma confinement in Malmberg-Penning traps is limited by the presence of trap asymmetries that produce radial transport. The objective of this research is to determine the scaling of the plasma's radial transport with magnetic field. The plasma is radially confined with a solenoidal magnetic field and negatively biased end potentials provide axial confinement. The experiment was performed by applying an asymmetric potential to the various wall sectors of the confinement region of the trap, varying the strength of the axial magnetic field, and measuring the resulting change in transport. The transport data was taken at a fixed asymmetry amplitude over a range of asymmetry frequencies for various radii. The magnetic field ranged from 248 to 620 Gauss. From the data, we found that the radial flux peaks at particular frequencies. We analyzed data plots that showed how the peak frequency of the flux resonances varied with radius for different magnetic fields. We found the flux resonance peak frequency to be proportional to the square root of the magnetic field for a range of radii.