Visualizing shear Alfve´n wave currents near the ion-Cyclotron frequency

Author

Vincena, Stephen ; Gekelman, Walter

Author_Institution

Plasma Lab., Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Volume

33

Issue

2

fYear

2005

fDate

4/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

552

Lastpage

553

Abstract

We present measurements of the three-dimensional structure of shear Alfve´n wave currents near the ion-cyclotron frequency. The waves are launched by modulating an electron current filament with transverse size on the order of the electron collisionless skin depth. The component of the current parallel to the background magnetic field is carried by the electrons, while the cross-field current comprises both the ion-polarization and E×B currents.

Keywords

plasma Alfven waves; plasma diagnostics; plasma magnetohydrodynamics; plasma transport processes; background magnetic field; cross-field current; electron collisionless skin depth; electron current filament; ion polarization; ion-cyclotron frequency; shear Alfven wave current visualization; three-dimensional shear Alfven wave currents; Copper; Electrons; Frequency; Laboratories; Magnetic field measurement; Magnetic fields; Plasma density; Plasma devices; Plasma waves; Visualization; Electromagnetic propagation in plasma media; plasma waves; scientific visualization;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2005.845288

Filename

1420572