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Electron beam injection experiments - The beam-plasma discharge at low pressures and magnetic field strengthsThe paper describes electron beam injection experiments which clarify observational results obtained in rocket flights. A column of enhanced density plasma, exceeding the density expected from ionization by primary beam electrons, was observed in a large vacuum system at low magnetic fields (1 to 1.5 G) and low ambient pressures (10 to the minus 6 to 10 to the minus 5 torr). The peak luminosity of the discharge was about 10 times that of the beam alone, and the radius increased by a factor of three. In the absence of the discharge, RF emission is observed at 1.1 to 1.2 times the cyclotron frequency, and a strong band of RF noise with upper frequency cutoff at about the cyclotron frequency is observed in the discharge mode, along with higher frequency noise at or near the plasma frequency. The onset of the plasma discharge is critically dependent on beam current. The described results agree with observations obtained at much higher densities and magnetic fields in fusion research studies.
Document ID
19780042597
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Bernstein, W.
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder, CO, United States)
Leinbach, H.
(NOAA, Space Environment Laboratory, Boulder Colo., United States)
Kellogg, P.
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder, CO, United States)
Monson, S.
(Minnesota, University Minneapolis, Minn., United States)
Hallinan, T.
(Alaska, University Fairbanks, Alaska, United States)
Garriott, O. K.
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder, CO, United States)
Konradi, A.
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder, CO, United States)
Mccoy, J.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, Tex., United States)
Daly, P.
(National Research Council Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, Ottawa, Canada)
Baker, B.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, Ala., United States)
Date Acquired
August 9, 2013
Publication Date
February 1, 1978
Publication Information
Publication: Geophysical Research Letters
Volume: 5
Subject Category
Plasma Physics
Accession Number
78A26506
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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