Quasi-Static Ion Cyclotron Waves

Abstract

Experiments by Kristiansen and Dougal have shown that ion cyclotron waves propagate in broad bands above the ion cyclotron frequency, and hence that finite Larmor radius effects are important even in moderate temperature plasmas. Investigation of the quasi-static dispersion relation leads to the observed features when the wavelength perpendicular to the field is allowed to be small compared to the Larmor radius. Results indicate that finite Larmor radius effects can dominate the dispersion relation, that the parallel wavelength is independent of density when they do, and that a maximum ion temperature from ion cyclotron resonance heating exists for quasi-static waves which depends only on the phase velocity parallel to the magnetic field.