Beam-Plasma Instabilities in a 2D Yukawa Lattice

Abstract

We consider a 2D Yukawa lattice of grains, with a beam of other charged grains moving in the lattice plane. In contrast to Vlasov plasmas, where the electrostatic instability excited by the beam is only longitudinal, here both longitudinal and transverse instabilities of the lattice phonons can develop. We determine and compare the transverse and longitudinal growth rates. The growth rate spectrum in wave number space exhibits remarkable gaps where no instability can develop. Depending on the system parameters, the transverse instability can be selectively excited.