Effect of spin on the instability of THz plasma waves in field-effect transistors under non-ideal boundary conditions

Terahertz(THz) radiation can be generated due to the instability of THz plasma waves in field-effect transistors(FETs). In this work, we discuss the instability of THz plasma waves in the channel of FETs with spin and quantum effects under non-ideal boundary conditions. We obtain a linear dispersion relation by using the hydrodynamic equation, Maxwell equation and spin equation. The influence of source capacitance, drain capacitance, spin effects, quantum effects and channel width on the instability of THz plasma waves under the non-ideal boundary conditions is investigated in great detail. The results of numerical simulation show that the THz plasma wave is unstable when the drain capacitance is smaller than the source capacitance;the oscillation frequency with asymmetric boundary conditions is smaller than that under non-ideal boundary conditions;the instability gain of THz plasma waves becomes lower under non-ideal boundary conditions. This finding provides a new idea for finding efficient THz radiation sources and opens up a new mechanism for the development of THz technology.

Effect of polarization force on the Jeans instability in collisional dusty plasmas

The Jeans instability in collisional dusty plasmas has been analytically investigated by considering the polarization force effect. Instabilities due to dust-neutral and ion-neutral drags can occur in electrostatic waves of collisional dusty plasmas with self-gravitating particles. In this study, the effect of gravitational force on heavy dust particles is considered in tandem with both the polarization and electrostatic forces. The theoretical framework has been developed and the dispersion relation and instability growth rate have been derived, assuming the plane wave approximation. The derived instability growth rate shows that, in collisional dusty plasmas, the Jeans instability strongly depends on the magnitude of the polarization force.

Transverse Instability of Dust-Acoustic Solitary Waves in Magnetized Dusty Plasmas

we theoretically investigated the transverse instability of three-dimensional（3D）dust-acoustic solitary waves in a magnetized dusty plasma.First,a 3D nonlinear ZakharovKuznetsov（ZK）equation,which can be used to describe the time-evolution of dust-acoustic solitary waves in magnetized dusty plasmas,is derived by using the reductive perturbation method.Second,we established a numerical scheme to study the transverse instability of the solitary waves described by the ZK equation.It was found that both stable and unstable solitary waves exist.

Review of relaxation oscillations in plasma processing discharges

Relaxation oscillations due to plasma instabilities at frequencies ranging from a few Hz to tens of kHz have been observed in various types of plasma processing discharges. Relaxation oscillations have been observed in electropositive capacitive discharges between a powered anode and a metallic chamber whose periphery is grounded through a slot with dielectric spacers. The oscillations of time-varying optical emission from the main discharge chamber show, for example, a high-frequency （- 40 kHz） relaxation oscillation at 13.33Pa, with an absorbed power being nearly the peripheral breakdown power, and a low-frequency （- 3 Hz） oscillation, with an even higher absorbed power. The high-frequency oscillation is found to ignite plasma in the slot, but usually not in the peripheral chamber. The kilohertz oscillations are modelled using an electromagnetic model of the slot impedance, coupled to a circuit analysis of the system including the matching network. The model results are in general agreement with the experimental observations, and indicate a variety of behaviours dependent on the matching conditions. In low-pressure inductive discharges, oscillations appear in the transition between low-density capacitively driven and high-density inductively driven discharges when attaching gases such as SF6 and Ar/SF6 mixtures are used. Oscillations of charged particles, plasma potential, and light, at frequencies ranging from a few Hz to tens of kHz, are seen for gas pressures between 0.133 Pa and 13.33 Pa and discharge powers in a range of 75 1200 W. The region of instability increases as the plasma becomes more electronegative, and the frequency of plasma oscillation increases as the power, pressure, and gas flow rate increase. A volume-averaged （global） model of the kilohertz instability has been developed; the results obtained from the model agree well with the experimental observations.

Preface to the Special Issue on recent advances in the study of Equatorial Plasma Bubbles and Ionospheric Scintillation

The 2 nd Equatorial Plasma Bubble(EPB)workshop,funded by the Institute of Geology and Geophysics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,and the National Natural Science Foundation of China,took place in Beijing,China during September 13–15,2019.The EPB workshop belongs to a conference series that began in 2016 in Nagoya,Japan at the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research,Nagoya University,resulting in a special issue of Progress in Earth and Planetary Science that focused on EPBs.The main goal of the series is to organize in-depth discussion by scientists working on ionospheric irregularities,and solve the scientific challenges in EPB and ionospheric scintillation forecasting.The 2 nd EPB workshop gathered almost 60 scientists from seven countries.A total of 20 invited and contributing papers focusing on ionospheric irregularities and scintillations were presented.Here we briefly comment on 10 papers included in this special issue.

PDRK:A General Kinetic Dispersion Relation Solver for Magnetized Plasma

A general,fast,and effective approach is developed for numerical calculation of kinetic plasma linear dispersion relations.The plasma dispersion function is approximated by J-pole expansion.Subsequently,the dispersion relation is transformed to a standard matrix eigenvalue problem of an equivalent linear system.Numerical solutions for the least damped or fastest growing modes using an 8-pole expansion are generally accurate;more strongly damped modes are less accurate,but are less likely to be of physical interest.In contrast to conventional approaches,such as Newton＇s iterative method,this approach can give either all the solutions in the system or a few solutions around the initial guess.It is also free from convergence problems.The approach is demonstrated for electrostatic dispersion equations with one-dimensional and twodimensional wavevectors,and for electromagnetic kinetic magnetized plasma dispersion relation for bi-Maxwellian distribution with relative parallel velocity flows between species.

Analysis of the instability growth rate during the jet-background interaction in a magnetic field

The two-stream instability is common, responsible for many observed phe- nomena in nature, especially the interaction of jets of various origins with the back- ground plasma （e.g. extragalactic jet interacting with the cosmic background）. The dispersion relation that does not consider magnetic fields is described by the well- known Buneman relation. In 2011, Bohata, Bren and Kulhanek derived the relation for the two-stream instability without the cold limit, with the general orientation of a magnetic field, and arbitrary stream directions. The maximum value of the imaginary part of the individual dispersion branches ωn（k） is of interest from a physical point of view. It represents the instability growth rate which is responsible for the onset of turbulence mode and subsequent reconnection on the scale of the ion radius accom- panied by a strong plasma thermalization. The paper presented here is focused on the non-relativistic instability growth rate and its dependence on various input parameters, such as magnitude and direction of magnetic field, sound velocity, plasma frequency of the jet and direction of the wave vector during the jet - intergalactic medium in- teraction. The results are presented in plots and can be used for determination of the plasma parameter values close to which the strong energy transfer and thermalization between the jet and the background plasma occur.

Absolute and Convective Instabilities of Two-Plasmon Decay in an Inhomogeneous Magnetized Plasma

Three-wave resonant parametric decay instability of extraordinary wave decay into two upper hybrid waves in an inhomogeneous plasma is studied theoretically. Analytical expressions of the local absolute growth rate, convective amplification factor and threshold intensity are obtained. The calculated results show that the effects of magnetic field and ky （ICy is the component of the wavenumber of upper hybrid wave perpendicular to pump wave k0） on the growth rate, amplification factor and threshold intensity are extremely dependent on their strength. The absolute growth rate and convective amplification factor increase with the plasma density while the threshold decreases. Moreover, the expression indicates that the inhomogeneity scale length of density and linear damping will reduce the convective amplification factor.

Discrete Alfvén eigenmodes in the CFETR steady-state scenario

The stability features of discrete Alfvén eigenmodes(αTAEs) trapped by α-induced potential wells are explored in the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor(CFETR) advanced steady-state operation environment, where α denotes a measure of the pressure gradient. For the reversed magnetic shear(RS) H-mode scenario with an enhanced internal transport barrier(ITB), the αTAEs are trapped in the electron cyclotron(EC) power deposition region and the effects of different pedestals on αTAEs are analyzed. For the negative off-axis magnetic shear scenario, the αTAEs are discussed, and the effect of different magnetic shears on the α TAEs is presented. Finally, the effects of beam energies and pitch-angle distributions onαTAE stability are also presented.

Review of ionospheric irregularities and ionospheric electrodynamic coupling in the middle latitude region

This paper briefly reviews ionospheric irregularities that occur in the E and F regions at mid-latitudes. Sporadic E(ES) is a common ionospheric irregularity phenomenon that is first noticed in the E layer. ES mainly appears during daytime in summer hemispheres, and is formed primarily from neutral wind shear in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere(MLT) region. Field-aligned irregularity(FAI) in the E region is also observed by Very High Frequency(VHF) radar in mid-latitude regions. FAI frequently occurs after sunset in summer hemispheres, and spectrum features of E region FAI echoes suggest that type-2 irregularity is dominant in the nighttime ionosphere. A close relationship between ES and E region FAI implies that ES may be a possible source of E region FAI in the nighttime ionosphere. Strong neutral wind shear, steep ES plasma density gradient, and a polarized electric field are the significant factors affecting the formation of E region FAI. At mid-latitudes, joint observational experiments including ionosonde, VHF radar, Global Positioning System(GPS) stations, and all-sky optical images have revealed strong connections across different scales of ionospheric irregularities in the nighttime F region, such as spread F(SF), medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances(MSTID), and F region FAI.Observations suggest that different scales of ionospheric irregularities are generally attributed to the Perkins instability and subsequently excited gradient drift instability. Nighttime MSTID can further evolve into small-scale structures through a nonlinear cascade process when a steep plasma density gradient exists at the bottom of the F region. In addition, the effect of ionospheric electrodynamic coupling processes, including ionospheric E-F coupling and inter-hemispheric coupling on the generation of ionospheric irregularities, becomes more prominent due to the significant dip angle and equipotentiality of magnetic field lines in the mid-latitude ionosphere. Polarized electric fields can map to different ionospheric regions and excite plasma instabilities which form ionospheric irregularities. Nevertheless,the mapping efficiency of a polarized electric field depends on the ionospheric background and spatial scale of the field.

Competition among the two-plasmon decay of backscattered light,filamentation of the electron-plasma wave and side stimulated Raman scattering

Competition among the two-plasmon decay(TPD)of backscattered light of stimulated Raman scattering(SRS),filamentation of the electron-plasma wave(EPW)and forward side SRS is investigated by two-dimensional particlein-cell simulations.Our previous work[K.Q.Pan et al.,Nucl.Fusion 58,096035(2018)]showed that in a plasma with the density near 1/10 of the critical density,the backscattered light would excite the TPD,which results in suppression of the backward SRS.However,this work further shows that when the laser intensity is so high(>10^(16)W/cm^(2))that the backward SRS cannot be totally suppressed,filamentation of the EPW and forward side SRS will be excited.Then the TPD of the backscattered light only occurs in the early stage and is suppressed in the latter stage.Electron distribution functions further show that trapped-particle-modulation instability should be responsible for filamentation of the EPW.This research can promote the understanding of hot-electron generation and SRS saturation in inertial confinement fusion experiments.

The CASTOR-K Code,Recent Developments and Applications

The CASTOR-K code is a hybrid magnetohydrodynamic （MHD）-drift kinetic code developed for the study of MHD modes in the presence of energetic ion populations. It allows a fast assessment of the linear stability of the modes, as well as an accurate calculation of damping due to thermal species （Landau damping）. These capabilities make the code an invaluable tool for parametric studies and data analysis. In recent years, CASTOR-K has been mostly used to analyze JET data, including the identification of mechanisms involved in the expulsion of energetic ions from the plasma. However, in order to prepare the code to be used for a wider range of tokamaks including ITER, the code is being subject to a series of important improvements. These improvements aim not only to introduce new physics in the code but also to make it capable of exchanging data with other codes through its integration in modelling infrastructures. In this paper a description of the CASTOR-K code is presented, as well as a summary of the most important results obtained with this code and a description of the new improvements being implemented.

Solar Impulsive Hard X-Ray Emission and Two-Stage Electron Acceleration

Heating and acceleration of electrons in solar impulsive hard X-ray （HXR） flares are studied according to the two-stage acceleration model developed by Zhang for solar ^3Herich events. It is shown that electrostatic H-cyclotron waves can be excited at a parallel phase velocity less than about the electron thermal velocity and thus can significantly heat the electrons （up to 40 MK） through landau resonance. The preheated electrons with velocities above a threshold are further accelerated to high energies in the flare-acceleration process. The flareproduced electron spectrum is obtained and shown to be thermal at low energies and power law at high energies. In the non-thermal energy range, the spectrum can be double power law if the spectral power index is energy dependent or related. The electron energy spectrum obtained by this study agrees quantitatively with the result derived from the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager （RHESSI） HXR observations in the flare of 2002 July 23. The total flux and energy flux of electrons accelerated in the solar flare also agree with the measurements.

Global frequency distributions of pulsations driven by sharp decrease of solar wind dynamic pressure

On 24 August 2005, an impulse of solar wind dynamic pressure(Psw) hit the magnetosphere. Using the high resolution geomagnetic field data from 15 ground stations and the data from Geotail and TC-1, we studied the geomagnetic pulsations at auroral latitudes driven by the sharp decrease of Psw at the trailing edge of the impulse. The results show that the sharp decrease of Psw can excite a global pulsation in the frequency range 4.3–11.6 m Hz. The pulsation has a reversal of polarization between two auroral latitude stations, a larger power spectral density(PSD) close to resonant latitude and increasing frequency with decreasing latitude. All these features indicate that the pulsations are associated with field line resonance(FLR). The fundamental resonant frequency(the peak frequency of PSD between 4.3 and 5.8 m Hz) is dependent on magnetic local time and is largest around magnetic local noon. This feature is due to the fact that the size of magnetospheric cavity is dependent on local time and smallest at noon. A second harmonic wave at about 10 m Hz is also observed, which is strongest in the daytime sector, and becomes heavily attenuated in the night sector. The comparison of the PSDs of the pulsations driven by sharp increase and sharp decrease of Psw shows that the frequency of pulsations is negatively proportional to the size of magnetopause. Since the FLR is excited by compressional cavity/waveguide waves, the above results indicate that the resonant frequency in the magnetospheric cavity/waveguide is controlled not only by solar wind parameters but also by magnetic local time of observation point.