A review of experiments on cross-field plasma instabilities.

Abstract

If electrons drift relative to ions across a magnetic field, three types of electrostatic cross-field instability can occur at frequencies much greater than the ion cyclotron frequency. These have been predicted to cause particle heating and perhaps anomalous diffusion. The experiments on each type are described. The main observations include linear and nonlinear wave properties, together with the ion heating associated with the two low frequency modes.