Microstructure formation in radially counterstreaming electron flows
A theoretical model is developed to describe the formation of microstructures due to plasma streaming instabilities in radially convergent geometries. Microstructures in the form of radial spokes are found experimentally in laser wakefield accelerators. The eigenvalues of a set of coupled linear ord...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/abe8f6 |
| _version_ | 1827872763601223680 |
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| author | Lucas I Iñigo Gamiz Bernhard Ersfeld Enrico Brunetti Samuel R Yoffe R Alan Cairns Adam Noble George K Holt Dino A Jaroszynski |
| author_facet | Lucas I Iñigo Gamiz Bernhard Ersfeld Enrico Brunetti Samuel R Yoffe R Alan Cairns Adam Noble George K Holt Dino A Jaroszynski |
| author_sort | Lucas I Iñigo Gamiz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A theoretical model is developed to describe the formation of microstructures due to plasma streaming instabilities in radially convergent geometries. Microstructures in the form of radial spokes are found experimentally in laser wakefield accelerators. The eigenvalues of a set of coupled linear ordinary differential equations are obtained and the complex wavenumbers calculated to give the local growth rates. The predictions are confirmed using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations carried out for two counter-propagating converging/diverging plasma annuli. The simulations consistently demonstrate unstable growth for interactions between two counterpropagating annuli with different number densities. The growth rates obtained from the PIC simulations agree well with the growth rates from the semi-analytical model. The theory presented in this paper can provide powerful insight into converging plasma beams found in space and laboratory scale plasma. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:28:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-72f3e1e3a61d45fc9c4a297a46f3e8e9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1367-2630 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:28:29Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | New Journal of Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-72f3e1e3a61d45fc9c4a297a46f3e8e92023-08-08T15:36:12ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302021-01-0123404301710.1088/1367-2630/abe8f6Microstructure formation in radially counterstreaming electron flowsLucas I Iñigo Gamiz0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7393-0896Bernhard Ersfeld1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5597-9429Enrico Brunetti2Samuel R Yoffe3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6723-4990R Alan Cairns4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7562-2053Adam Noble5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8181-7076George K Holt6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6814-9117Dino A Jaroszynski7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3006-5492Department of Physics, SUPA & University of Strathclyde , Glasgow G4 0NG, United KingdomDepartment of Physics, SUPA & University of Strathclyde , Glasgow G4 0NG, United KingdomDepartment of Physics, SUPA & University of Strathclyde , Glasgow G4 0NG, United KingdomDepartment of Physics, SUPA & University of Strathclyde , Glasgow G4 0NG, United KingdomSchool of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews , St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS, United KingdomDepartment of Physics, SUPA & University of Strathclyde , Glasgow G4 0NG, United KingdomDepartment of Physics, SUPA & University of Strathclyde , Glasgow G4 0NG, United KingdomDepartment of Physics, SUPA & University of Strathclyde , Glasgow G4 0NG, United KingdomA theoretical model is developed to describe the formation of microstructures due to plasma streaming instabilities in radially convergent geometries. Microstructures in the form of radial spokes are found experimentally in laser wakefield accelerators. The eigenvalues of a set of coupled linear ordinary differential equations are obtained and the complex wavenumbers calculated to give the local growth rates. The predictions are confirmed using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations carried out for two counter-propagating converging/diverging plasma annuli. The simulations consistently demonstrate unstable growth for interactions between two counterpropagating annuli with different number densities. The growth rates obtained from the PIC simulations agree well with the growth rates from the semi-analytical model. The theory presented in this paper can provide powerful insight into converging plasma beams found in space and laboratory scale plasma.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/abe8f6plasma microstructuresplasma instabilitiesstreaming instabilitieswakefield accelerator |
| spellingShingle | Lucas I Iñigo Gamiz Bernhard Ersfeld Enrico Brunetti Samuel R Yoffe R Alan Cairns Adam Noble George K Holt Dino A Jaroszynski Microstructure formation in radially counterstreaming electron flows New Journal of Physics plasma microstructures plasma instabilities streaming instabilities wakefield accelerator |
| title | Microstructure formation in radially counterstreaming electron flows |
| title_full | Microstructure formation in radially counterstreaming electron flows |
| title_fullStr | Microstructure formation in radially counterstreaming electron flows |
| title_full_unstemmed | Microstructure formation in radially counterstreaming electron flows |
| title_short | Microstructure formation in radially counterstreaming electron flows |
| title_sort | microstructure formation in radially counterstreaming electron flows |
| topic | plasma microstructures plasma instabilities streaming instabilities wakefield accelerator |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/abe8f6 |
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