Particle-in-cell study of microwave confined plasma Original Research Article

An incident electromagnetic wave in a two-mirror cavity forming a standing wave can be effectively absorbed by the plasma. The electrons responding to the ac electric field sustain an ac current that pinches the plasma and holds the plasma together. A particle-in-cell (PIC) code in the cylindrical geometry is developed in the MPI-C distributed computing paradigm to examine the underlying physics. At reasonable electric field strength, the confined plasma is formed. The ions, serving the role of inertia confinement, are shown to make the plasma equilibrium sustainable.