Simulation of high-energy particle production through sausage and kink instabilities in pinched plasma discharges

Abstract

In an experimental plasma, high-energy particles were observed by using a plasma focus device, to obtain energies of a few hundred keV for electrons, up to MeV for ions. In order to study the mechanism of high-energy particle production in pinched plasma discharges, a numerical simulation was introduced. By use of a three-dimensional relativistic and fully electromagnetic particle-in-cell code, the dynamics of a Z-pinch plasma, thought to be unstable against sausage and kink instabilities, are investigated. In this work, the development of sausage and kink instabilities and subsequent high-energy particle production are shown. In the model used here, cylindrically distributed electrons and ions are driven by an external electric field. The driven particles spontaneously produce a current, which begins to pinch by the Lorentz force. Initially the pinched current is unstable against a sausage instability, and then becomes unstable against a kink instability. As a result high-energy particles are observed.