Transport properties of a weakly ionized cesium plasma

Abstract

The transverse component (${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{T}$) of the tensor electric conductivity of a weakly ionized magnetized plasma has been measured under near-thermal equilibrium conditions. Care has been taken to minimize the effects of $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{E}}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{B}}$ drifts and finite apparatus size. For magnetic fields that are large enough, it is found that the magnetic field dependence of ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{T}$ is $\frac{1}{{B}^{2}}$, in agreement with theory. It is also found that the overall density dependence of ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{T}$ agrees with standard conductivity theory. At the highest values of the magnetic field used, the data show some deviation from theoretical predictions which include only electron transport. This deviation is attributed to ion transport, and opens up the possibility of measuring transport properties of the ions alone.