Propagation across B-field of intense plasma and ion beams in vacuum and magnetized plasma

Summary form only given. This paper extends earlier studies, on the transport of intense, wide cross-section neutralized H/sup +/ plasma (PB) and ion beams (IB) with translational energies in the range of /spl sim/0.1 to /spl sim/100 keV, respectively, through various combinations of vacuum, ambient plasma and/or transverse B-fields ranging from 0.1 to 1.6 kG. Particle densities and temperatures for the ambient plasma and PB were of the same order in magnitude (/spl sim/10/sup 13/ cm/sup -3/ and a few eV) while the IB was two orders lower in density and more than one order higher in temperature (/spl sim/10/sup 11/ cm/sup -3/ and hundreds of eV). For the PB, depending on the B-field strength, the ratio of beam width to Larmor radius, d/R, ranged from 1 to 10 and the ratio of beam energy density to B-field pressure, /spl beta/, ranged from 10/sup -2/ to 1. For the IB, these values ranged from 10/sup -1/ to 1 and 10/sup -1/ to 10, respectively. Based on the transport criteria used in, at low B-fields (/spl les/0.4 kG) in vacuum, the PB was mainly diamagnetic, whereas for higher B-fields (/spl ges/0.6 kG), the PB propagated by ExB drift with pronounced peripheral layer loss and beam "braking" due to virtual anode formation. Slowing down of the PB front caused the beam to bunch and consequently the density of the central part of the PB increased by more than one order in magnitude. In the case of the IB, similar peripheral beam loss was not accompanied by beam braking or the enhancement of its central part indicating an ExB mechanism of transport without the formation of a virtual anode. The propagation of the IB in ambient plasma across B-field agrees with the picture of efficient shorting of the polarization E-field with subsequent beam deflection corresponding to a one-particle orbit of an H/sup +/ with respective average beam energy. Differing from this picture, the PB in similar conditions propagated without any noticeable deflection, though bunching and "pealing - ff" was much less pronounced compared with its propagation in vacuum. A possible cause for this dissimilarity may be insufficient ambient plasma density for the PB and therefore an incomplete shorting of the polarization E-field.