A kinetic model for pure electron plasma compression via the rotating wall technique

Abstract

An approximate model for pure electron plasma compression is developed for the case where the rotating wall (RW) electric field couples to the $E\times B$ rotation and axial bounce motion of the electrons. The key assumption in the model is that, throughout the compression, the plasma remains in a slowly evolving thermal equilibrium defined by the plasma temperature and angular momentum. Linearized drift kinetic theory is employed to derive an expression for torque exerted by the RW field on the plasma through coupling to the resonant plasma particles, and averaging is used to find the torque that both compresses and heats the plasma. The evolution equations for the angular velocity and temperature of the plasma include the compression and heating from the torque and cooling from cyclotron radiation.