Suppression of an instability by the introduction of external turbulence

Abstract

The problem of suppression of a plasma instability by the introduction of an externally controlled spectrum of turbulent electric fields is considered. The theory of strong turbulence is extended to include external fields, and is applied to the half-cyclotron frequency instability occurring in counterstreaming, magnetically confined electron beams. Experimental results from such an electron beam system are presented which confirm that the suppression of the instability is due to resonance broadening.