Study Of Parametric Instability Research Articles

Suprathermal electrons from the anti-Stokes Langmuir decay instability cascade.

The study of parametric instabilities has played a crucial role in understanding energy transfer to plasma and, with that, the development of key applications such as inertial confinement fusion. When the densities are between 0.11n_{c}≲n_{e}≲0.14n_{c} and the electron temperature is in inertial confinement fusion-relevant temperatures, anomalous hot electrons with kinetic energies above 100keV are generated. Here a new electron acceleration mechanism-the anti-Stokes Langmuir decay instability cascade of forward stimulated Raman scattering-is investigated. This mechanism potentially explains anomalous energetic electron generation in indirectly driven inertial confinement fusion experiments, it also provides a new way of accelerating electrons to higher energy for applications such as novel x-ray sources.

Study of parametric instability in gravitational wave detectors with silicon test masses

Parametric instability is an intrinsic risk in high power laser interferometer gravitational wave detectors, in which the optical cavity modes interact with the acoustic modes of the mirrors, leading to exponential growth of the acoustic vibration. In this paper, we investigate the potential parametric instability for a proposed next generation gravitational wave detector, the LIGO Voyager blue design, with cooled silicon test masses of size 45 cm in diameter and 55 cm in thickness. It is shown that there would be about two unstable modes per test mass at an arm cavity power of 3 MW, with the highest parametric gain of ∼76. While this is less than the predicted number of unstable modes for Advanced LIGO (∼40 modes with max gain of ∼32 at the designed operating power of 830 kW), the importance of developing suitable instability suppression schemes is emphasized.

A study of parametric instability in a harmonic gyrotron: Designs of third harmonic gyrotrons at 94 GHz and 210 GHz

Mode competition can present a major hurdle in achieving stable, efficient operation of a gyrotron at the cyclotron harmonics. A type of mode interaction in which three modes at different cyclotron harmonics are parametrically coupled together is analyzed here. This coupling can lead to parametric excitation or suppression of a mode; cyclic mode hopping; or the coexistence of three modes. Simulation results are presented for the parametric instability involving modes at the fundamental, second harmonic, and third harmonic of the cyclotron frequency. It is shown that the parametric excitation can lead to stable, efficient operation of a high-power gyrotron at the third harmonic. Based on this phenomenon, two practical designs are presented here for the third harmonic operation at 94 and 210 GHz.

Study of parametric instabilities during the ion Bernstein wave heating experiment on PBX-M

Parametric instabilities during the ion Bernstein wave (IBW) plasma heating experiment on PBX-M are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical work shows that the RF power threshold of the instabilities is very low when the plasma density near the antenna satisfies the condition 2ωpi < ω0 << ωpe. The threshold becomes very high, >>1 MW, and is determined by convective losses due to plasma inhomogeneity when the plasma density near the antenna is sufficiently high that 0.5 < ωpi/ω0 < 1. According to the theory, the parametric instability activity should increase as the plasma is moved away from the antenna, creating a low density electron plasma wave 'gap' region. To test this hypothesis on PBX-M, the plasma position was deliberately varied while monitoring this activity. Under normal IBW operating conditions, very little parametric instability activity was observed ⩽50 dB below the pump wave (ω = ωRF). However, when the plasma edge was moved away from the antenna by about 2 cm, the parametric instability activity increased greatly, exceeding 20 dB of the pump wave. This result shows that the observed parametric instability activity can be explained in terms of the plasma inhomogeneity convective model. It was also demonstrated that, by controlling the plasma position with respect to the antenna, parametric instability activity can be controlled at a low level

Parametric instabilities in large nonuniform laser plasmas

The study of parametric instabilities in laser plasmas is of vital importance for inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The long scale-length plasma encountered in the corona of an ICF target provides ideal conditions for the growth of instabilities such as stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), and filamentation. These instabilities can have detrimental effects in ICF and their characterization and understanding is of importance. Scattering instabilities are driven through a feedback loop by which the beating between the electromagnetic EM fields of the laser and the scattered light matches the frequency of a local longitudinal mode of the plasma. Any process which interferes with the coherence of this mechanism can substantially alter the behavior of the instability.

Study of Parametric Instabilities in a Thin Radially Inhomogeneous Plasma Column

We investigate parametric instabilities in a bounded inhomogeneous plasma when the pump wave frequency is close to that of the Gould-Trivelpiece mode. Using a suitable technique, we have obtained a dispersion relation in a radially inhomogeneous plasma column. The growth rates and threshold conditions for purely growing and four-phonon parametric instabilities are calculated. A comparison of these values with those for a homogeneous plasma shows that the plasma inhomogeneity enhances thresholds.

Threshold of Lower Hybrid Parametric Instability in a Modulated Electron-Beam–Plasma System

An experimental study of parametric instability driven by a beam modulation near the lower hybrid frequency is presented. If the modulation voltage exceeds a threshold value, the pump wave appears to decay into an ion acoustic wave and a lower hybrid wave. The threshold electron drift speed is found to be of the order of the ion acoustic speed as predicted by a theory of parametric instability in an inhomogeneous plasma.