Two-dimensional motion of a parabolically confined charged particle in a perpendicular magnetic field

Abstract

Abstract The classical two-dimensional motion of a parabolically confined charged particle in presence of a perpendicular magnetic is studied. The resulting equations of motion are solved exactly by using a mathematical method which is based on the introduction of complex variables. The two-dimensional motion of a parabolically charged particle in a perpendicular magnetic field is strikingly different from either the two-dimensional cyclotron motion, or the oscillator motion. It is found that the trajectory of a parabolically confined charged particle in a perpendicular magnetic field is closed only for particular values of cyclotron and parabolic confining frequencies that satisfy a given commensurability condition. In these cases, the closed paths of the particle resemble Lissajous figures, though significant differences with them do exist. When such commensurability condition is not satisfied, path of particle is open and motion is no longer periodic. In this case, after a sufficiently long time has elapsed, the open paths of the particle fill a whole annulus, a region lying between two concentric circles of different radii.