Investigation of the nonlinear behavior of a weakly-ionized plasma

Summary Form only given, as follows. Recent progress on the application of chaos theory to a steady-state magnetized plasma is reported. The research was conducted on a classical Penning discharge, which is inherently turbulent. However, by choosing appropriate boundary conditions, it was possible to produce relatively coherent modes. This was achieved by using a long cylindrical anode and a coaxial cathode. This arrangement creates a constant radial electric field along the axis, which in turn causes an E*B instability to develop in the edge region of the plasma. These modes can be damped or enhanced by varying the plasma parameters. Turbulence data were obtained by using a capacitive probe to measure the potential fluctuations. The study was conducted for the three different plasma cases. In each case a different parameter was varied. The parameters varied included that anode voltage, background pressure, and magnetic field strength.<>