Rotation waves and strong turbulence in a multi-component plasma

Summary form only given. We show that in a three-component plasma, e.g., electrons, ions, and negatively charged dust, such that n/sub d//spl Lt/n/sub i//spl sim/n/sub e/, the light components (electrons and ions) can rotate with a frequency, /spl Omega//sub r/=Zn/sub d//spl Omega//sub i//n/sub e/, where n/sub i,e,d/ are ion, electron, and dust densities, Z is the dust charge state, and /spl Omega/ is the ion gyro-frequency. The origin of this rotation is shown to be due to n/sub i//spl ne/n/sub e/, so that there is a current perpendicular to the magnetic field due to ion and electron E/spl times/B drift, which induces an electric field in the direction of the current. Hence the plasma is subject to electric forces simultaneously in the two orthogonal directions perpendicular to the magnetic field resulting in a rotation. A new low-frequency resonance at /spl omega/=/spl Omega//sub r/ appears in the MHD limit and affects the dispersion character of the electromagnetic waves. The magnetosonic dispersion relation [/spl omega//sup 2/=/spl Omega//sub r//sup 2/+k/sup 2/(V/sub A//sup 2/+C/sub s//sup 2/), where V/sub A/ and C/sub s/ are Alfven and ion sound speeds] is modified and becomes isomorphic to the electrostatic Langmuir wave dispersion relation. We find that the interaction of the fast rotation time-scale with the slow magnetosonic time-scale can be achieved via ponderomotive force and this could lead to a nonlinear Schrodinger equation for the magnetosonic branch. We also find that it is possible to develop nonlinear structures at very large MHD scale lengths with scale-size L/spl sim/V/sub A///spl Omega//sub r0//spl sim/(c//spl omega//sub pi/)(n/sub e//Zn/sub d/)(n/sub i//n/sub e/)/sup 1/2 / where /spl omega//sub pi/ is the ion plasma frequency, which could be comparable to astrophysical dimensions. Presently, a laboratory investigation is underway to look for signatures of the rotation in a multi-ion species plasma. The experiments focus on detection of transv- rse components of energetic ion flow following perturbation of the plasma. The linear stability and nonlinear structures that could arise in the frequency regime /spl omega//spl sim//spl Omega//sub r/ is discussed, along with laboratory results and applications to space plasmas.