Title :
Whistler Spheromaks
Author :
Urrutia, J.M. ; Stenzel, R.L. ; Strohmaier, K.D.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Phys. & Astron., Univ. of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Abstract :
A highly nonlinear whistler wave packet has been generated in a large laboratory plasma. The wave field exceeds the ambient field, locally reverses its direction and exhibits a topology of a spheromak. It propagates along the ambient magnetic field at a speed that decreases with amplitude. Electrons are strongly energized in the spheromak. Anisotropies create whistler instabilities. The whistler spheromak becomes a propagating source for secondary whistlers, a new phenomenon in magnetic turbulence.
Keywords :
plasma confinement; plasma electromagnetic wave propagation; plasma instability; plasma nonlinear waves; plasma turbulence; whistlers; highly nonlinear whistler wave packet; magnetic turbulence; magnetic vortex; wave field; whistler instabilities; whistler spheromak; Antenna radiation patterns; electromagnetic propagation in plasma media; nonlinear wave propagation; plasma instabilities;
Journal_Title :
Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TPS.2008.924508
