The Radio-Frequency Confinement and Acceleration of Plasmas

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the radio-frequency (rf) confinement and acceleration of plasmas. In 1956, the Soviet physicist Veksler pointed out that the force exerted on plasma by an rf electromagnetic field could be quite substantial. He suggested that a suitable rf field configuration might be capable of simultaneously confining plasma and accelerating it. It is now an open question whether there exist configurations in which a plasma with some given plasma frequency is confined by an rf field of a much lower frequency and whether, if they exist, they are stable. The plasma motions have two effects; they give the space in which the rf wave is set up a certain quasi-dielectric property, and generate new electric fields as a result of charge separation. That such charge separation must occur can be seen from the form of the rf quasi potential. In this chapter, guiding center theory for arbitrary rf fields is elaborated. The theory of rf confinement of plasma is explained. A discussion on theory of combined rf and magnetostatic confinement of plasma is also presented.