No Arabic abstract
The before described general principles and methodology of calculating electron wave propagation in homogeneous isotropic half-infinity slab of Maxwellian plasma with indefinite but in principal value sense taken integrals in characteristic equations, and the use of 2D Laplace transform method are applied to an evaluation of collision damping decrements of plane electron longitudinal and transverse waves. Damping decrement tends to infinity when the wave frequency tends to electron Langmuir frequency from above values. We considered recurrent relations for amplitudes of the overtones which form in their sum the all solution of the plasma wave non-linear equations including collision damping and quadratic (non-linear) terms. Collisionless damping at frequencies more the Langmuir one is possible only in non-Maxwellian plasmas.
We have considered an expansion of solutions of the non-linear equations for both longitudinal and transverse waves in collisionless Maxwellian plasma in series of non-damping overtones of the field E(x,t) and electron velocity distribution function f=f(0) +f(1) where f(0) is background Maxwellian electron distribution function and f(1) is perturbation. The electrical field and perturbation f(1) are presented as a series of non-damping harmonics with increasing frequencies of the order n and the same propagation speed. It is shown presence of recurrent relations for arising overtones. Convergence of the series is provided by a power law parameter series convergence. There are proposed also successive procedures of cutting off the distribution function f(1) to the condition of positivity f near the singularity points where kinetic equation becomes inapplicable. In this case, at poles absence the solution reduces to non-damping Vlasov waves (oscillations). In the case of transverse waves, dispersion equation has two roots, corresponding to the branches of fast electromagnetic and slow electron waves. There is noted a possibility of experimental testing appearing exotic results with detecting frequencies and amplitudes of n-order overtones.
Scattering phenomena between charged particles and highly excited Rydberg atoms are of critical importance in many processes in plasma physics and astrophysics. While a Maxwell-Boltzmann (MB) energy distribution for the charged particles is often assumed for calculations of collisional rate coefficients, in this contribution we relax this assumption and use two different energy distributions, a bimodal MB distribution and a $kappa$-distribution. Both variants share a high-energy tails occurring with higher probability than the corresponding MB distribution. The high energy tail may significantly affect rate coefficients for various processes. We focus the analysis to specific situations by showing the dependence of the rate coefficients on the principal quantum number of hydrogen atoms in n-changing collisions with electrons in the excitation and ionization channels and in a temperature range relevant to the divertor region of a tokamak device. We finally discuss the implications for diagnostics of laboratory plasmas.
In this paper we have criticized the so-called Landau damping theory. We have analyzed solutions of the standard dispersion equations for longitudinal (electric) and transversal (electromagnetic and electron) waves in half-infinite slab of the uniform collisionless plasmas with non-Maxwellian and Maxwellian-like electron energy distribution functions. One considered the most typical cases of both the delta-function type distribution function (the plasma stream with monochromatic electrons) and distribution functions, different from Maxwellian ones as with a surplus as well as with a shortage in the Maxwellian distribution function tail. It is shown that there are present for the considered cases both collisionless damping and also non-damping electron waves even in the case of non-Maxwellian distribution function.
The collision frequencies of electron-neutral-particle in the weakly ionized complex plasmas with the non-Maxwellian velocity distributions are studied. The average collision frequencies of electron-neutral-particle in the plasmas are derived accurately. We find that these collision frequencies are significantly dependent on the power-law spectral indices of non-Maxwellian distribution functions and so they are generally different from the collision frequencies in the plasmas with a Maxwellian velocity distribution, which will affect the transport properties of the charged particles in the plasmas. Numerically analyses are made to show the roles of the spectral indices in the average collision frequencies respectively.
The irradiation of few nm thick targets by a finite-contrast high-intensity short-pulse laser results in a strong pre-expansion of these targets at the arrival time of the main pulse. The targets decompress to near and lower than critical densities plasmas extending over few micrometers, i.e. multiple wavelengths. The interaction of the main pulse with such a highly localized but inhomogeneous target leads to the generation of a short channel and further self-focusing of the laser beam. Experiments at the GHOST laser system at UT Austin using such targets measured non-Maxwellian, peaked electron distribution with large bunch charge and high electron density in the laser propagation direction. These results are reproduced in 2D PIC simulations using the EPOCH code, identifying Direct Laser Acceleration (DLA) as the responsible mechanism. This is the first time that DLA has been observed to produce peaked spectra as opposed to broad, maxwellian spectra observed in earlier experiments. This high-density electrons have potential applications as injector beams for a further wakefield acceleration stage as well as for pump-probe applications.