Enhancement of Ponderomotive End Plugs with Low-Mass Dopants

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ochs, Ian E., Kolmes, Elijah J., Fisch, Nathaniel J.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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_version_ 1866916046873559040
author Ochs, Ian E.
Kolmes, Elijah J.
Fisch, Nathaniel J.
author_facet Ochs, Ian E.
Kolmes, Elijah J.
Fisch, Nathaniel J.
contents During conventional confinement of a linear plasma using ponderomotive end plugs, a repulsive potential is created at the axial ends by employing a perpendicularly-polarized wave with a wave frequency greater than the ion gyrofrequency. This potential is then partially cancelled out by an ambipolar potential that arises to equilibrate electron and ion densities along the field line. However, recent work on centrifugally-confined plasmas has shown that the appropriate choice of a dopant in the end region can dramatically change the structure of the ambipolar potential. For the ponderomotive potential, this ambipolar shaping can be even more powerful, since a lightweight dopant can see a different sign of ponderomotive potential relative to the confined species. As a result, the dopant can reverse the sign of the ambipolar potential, causing it to dramatically enhance the end plug ponderomotive confinement.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_26472
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Enhancement of Ponderomotive End Plugs with Low-Mass Dopants
Ochs, Ian E.
Kolmes, Elijah J.
Fisch, Nathaniel J.
Plasma Physics
During conventional confinement of a linear plasma using ponderomotive end plugs, a repulsive potential is created at the axial ends by employing a perpendicularly-polarized wave with a wave frequency greater than the ion gyrofrequency. This potential is then partially cancelled out by an ambipolar potential that arises to equilibrate electron and ion densities along the field line. However, recent work on centrifugally-confined plasmas has shown that the appropriate choice of a dopant in the end region can dramatically change the structure of the ambipolar potential. For the ponderomotive potential, this ambipolar shaping can be even more powerful, since a lightweight dopant can see a different sign of ponderomotive potential relative to the confined species. As a result, the dopant can reverse the sign of the ambipolar potential, causing it to dramatically enhance the end plug ponderomotive confinement.
title Enhancement of Ponderomotive End Plugs with Low-Mass Dopants
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.26472