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Main Authors: Filleul, Félicien, Caldarelli, Antonella, Takahashi, Kazunori, Boswell, Rod, Charles, Christine, Cater, John, Rattenbury, Nicholas
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.06747
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author Filleul, Félicien
Caldarelli, Antonella
Takahashi, Kazunori
Boswell, Rod
Charles, Christine
Cater, John
Rattenbury, Nicholas
author_facet Filleul, Félicien
Caldarelli, Antonella
Takahashi, Kazunori
Boswell, Rod
Charles, Christine
Cater, John
Rattenbury, Nicholas
contents Waves propagating along a converging-diverging rf magnetoplasma having the characteristics of a bounded m=0 helicon mode are reported and characterised. The discharge features a 30 cm separation between the region of radiofrequency energy deposition by a single loop antenna and the region of maximum magnetic field applied by a pair of coils. With 200 W of rf input power, the resulting plasma exhibits a strong axial plasma density gradient peaking at the magnetic mirror throat where an Ar II blue-core is observed. Two dimensional B-dot probe measurements show that the rf magnetic fields are closely guided by the converging-diverging geometry. The wave is characterised as a m=0 mode satisfying the helicon dispersion relation on-axis with radial boundary conditions approximately matching the radii of the plasma column. Analysis of the wave phase velocity and wave axial damping failed to identify collisionless or collisional wave-plasma coupling mechanisms. Instead, the wave axial amplitude variations can be explained by local wave resonances and possible reflections from localised rapid changes of the refractive index. A Venturi-like effect owing to the funnel-shaped magnetoplasma and conservation of the wave energy may also explain some level of amplitude variations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2307_06747
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Helicon waves in a converging-diverging magnetoplasma
Filleul, Félicien
Caldarelli, Antonella
Takahashi, Kazunori
Boswell, Rod
Charles, Christine
Cater, John
Rattenbury, Nicholas
Plasma Physics
Waves propagating along a converging-diverging rf magnetoplasma having the characteristics of a bounded m=0 helicon mode are reported and characterised. The discharge features a 30 cm separation between the region of radiofrequency energy deposition by a single loop antenna and the region of maximum magnetic field applied by a pair of coils. With 200 W of rf input power, the resulting plasma exhibits a strong axial plasma density gradient peaking at the magnetic mirror throat where an Ar II blue-core is observed. Two dimensional B-dot probe measurements show that the rf magnetic fields are closely guided by the converging-diverging geometry. The wave is characterised as a m=0 mode satisfying the helicon dispersion relation on-axis with radial boundary conditions approximately matching the radii of the plasma column. Analysis of the wave phase velocity and wave axial damping failed to identify collisionless or collisional wave-plasma coupling mechanisms. Instead, the wave axial amplitude variations can be explained by local wave resonances and possible reflections from localised rapid changes of the refractive index. A Venturi-like effect owing to the funnel-shaped magnetoplasma and conservation of the wave energy may also explain some level of amplitude variations.
title Helicon waves in a converging-diverging magnetoplasma
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.06747