Anomalous Electron Transport in One-Dimensional Electron Cyclotron Drift Turbulence

Abstract

The transverse electron current due to the crossed electric and magnetic fields results in the robust instability driven by the electron $${\mathbf{E}} \times {\mathbf{B}}$$ drift. In the regime of interest for electric propulsion applications, this instability leads to the excitation of quasicoherent nonlinear wave resulting in the anomalous electron transport. We investigate the nonlinear stage of the instability and resulting anomalous electron current using nonlinear Particle-in-Cell simulations. It is found that the anomalous current is proportional to the applied electric field thus demonstrating constant anomalous mobility. Moreover, the scaling of the current density follows the dependence of the dominant resonance wavelength on the electric and magnetic field strength thus clearly demonstrating the cyclotron nature of the instability.