Growth mechanism and characteristics of electron drift instability in Hall thruster with different propellant types

The existence of a significant electron drift instability(EDI) in the Hall thruster is considered as one of the possible causes of the abnormal increase in axial electron mobility near the outlet of the channel. In recent years, extensive simulation research on the characteristics of EDI has been conducted, but the excitation mechanism and growth mechanism of EDI in linear stage and nonlinear stage remain unclear. In this work, a one-dimensional PIC model in the azimuthal direction of the thruster near-exit region is established to gain further insights into the mechanism of the EDI in detail, and the effects of different types of propellants on EDI characteristics are discussed. The changes in axial electron transport caused by EDI under different types of propellants and electromagnetic field strengths are also examined. The results indicate that EDI undergoes a short linear growth phase before transitioning to the nonlinear phase and finally reaching saturation through the ion Landau damping. The EDI drives a significant ion heating in the azimuthal direction through electron–ion friction before entering the quasi-steady state, which increases the axial mobility of the electrons. Using lighter atomic weight propellant can effectively suppress the oscillation amplitude of EDI, but it will increase the linear growth rate, frequency, and phase velocity of EDI. Compared with the classical mobility, the axial electron mobility under the EDI increases by three orders of magnitude, which is consistent with experimental phenomena. The change of propellant type is insufficient to significantly change the axial electron mobility. It is also found that the collisions between electrons and neutral gasescan significantly affect the axial electron mobility under the influence of EDI, and lead the strength of the electric field to increase and the strength of the magnetic field to decrease, thereby both effectively suppressing the axial transport of electrons.

On Electron Clouds and Light

The wave equation of the electron, recently improved, allows physics to obtain all the quantum numbers and other results explaining the hydrogen spectrum. The Pauli exclusion principle then gives the description of electron clouds used in chemistry. The relativistic wave equation is associated with a Lagrangian density, thus also with an energy-momentum tensorial density. The wave of an electron cloud adds these energy-momentum densities, while photons in light are precisely those differences between such energy-momentum densities.

Studies on electron cloud instability in BEPCⅡ

Electron Cloud Instability has been studied in the operation of BEPC. The BEPCⅡ began the commissioning in November 2006 and the positron beam current has reached 500 mA. Because of such a high beam current, some instabilities such as ECI, bunch lengthening et al, have appeared during the operation. The experimental investigation on ECI during the commissioning of BEPCⅡ will be reported in this paper.

Electromagnetic Particle-in-Cell Simulations of Electron Holes Formed During the Electron Two-Stream Instability

Previous electrostatic particle-in-cell （PIC） simulations have pointed out that elec- tron phase-space holes （electron holes） can be formed during the nonlinear evolution of the electron two-stream instability. The parallel cuts of the parallel and perpendicular electric field have bipolar and unipolar structures in these electron holes, respectively. In this study, two-dimensional （2D） electromagnetic PIC simulations are performed in the x - y plane to investigate the evolution of the electron two-stream instability, with the emphasis on the magnetic structures associated with these electron holes in different plasma conditions. In the simulations, the background magnetic field （Bo = Boer） is along the x direction. In weakly magnetized plasma （Ωe 〈ωpe, where Ωe and ωpe are the electron gyrofrequency and electron plasma frequency, respectively）, several 2D electron holes are formed. In these 2D electron holes, the parallel cut of the fluctuating magnetic field δBx and δBz has unipolar structures, while the fluctuating magnetic field δBy has bipolar structures. In strongly magnetized plasma （Ωe 〉 ωpe）, several quasi-lD electron holes are formed. The electrostatic whistler waves with streaked structures of Ey are excited. The fluctuating mag- netic field δBx and δBz also have streaked structures. The fluctuating magnetic field δBx and δBy are produced by the current in the z direction due to the electric field drift of the trapped elec- trons, while the fluctuating magnetic field δBz can be explained by the Lorentz transformation of a moving quasielectrostatic structure. The influences of the initial temperature anisotropy on the magnetic structures of the electron holes are also analyzed. The electromagnetic whistler waves are found to be excited in weakly magnetized plasma. However, they do not have any significant effects on the electrostatic structures of the electron holes.

Electrostatic Structure of the Electron Phase-space Holes Generated by the Electron Two-stream Instability with a Finite Width

Space satellite observations in an electron phase-space hole(electron hole) have shown that bipolar structures are discovered at the parallel cut of parallel electric field, while unipolar structures spring from the parallel cut of perpendicular electric field. Particle-in-cell(PIC) simulations have demonstrated that the electron bi-stream instability induces several electron holes during its nonlinear evolution. However, how the unipolar structure of the parallel cut of the perpendicular electric field formed in these electron holes is still an unsolved problem,especially in a strongly magnetized plasma(Ω_e >ω_(pe), where Ω_e is defined as electron gyrofrequency and ω_(pe) is defined as plasma frequency, respectively). In this paper, with two-dimensional(2D) electrostatic PIC simulations, the evolution of the electron two-stream instability with a finite width in strongly magnetized plasma is investigated. Initially, those conditions lead to monochromatic electrostatic waves, and these waves coalesce with each other during their nonlinear evolution. At last, a solitary electrostatic structure is formed. In such an electron hole, a bipolar structure is formed in the parallel cut. of parallel electric field, while a unipolar structure presents in the parallel cut of perpendicular electric field.

Investigation of the diocotron instability of an infinitely wide sheet electron beam by using the macroscopic cold-fluid model theory

This paper investigates the diocotron instability of an infinitely wide relativistic sheet electron beam in conducting wMls propagating through a uniform magnetic field by using the macroscopic cold-fluid model theory. Assuming low- frequency perturbations with long axial wavelengths, the eigenvalue equation and the dispersion relation are acquired for a sheet electron beam with sharp boundary profile and uniform density. The results presented in this paper has developed the use of the macroscopic cold-fluid model theory by extending the parameter of the electron cyclotron frequency ωc to a wider usage range, which is restricted to be much larger than the plasma frequency ωp in the previous research work. Theoretical analyses and numerical calculations indicate that the transport of the sheet electron beam will be completely stabilized by augmenting the normalized beam thickness to a conductor gap larger than a threshold λb, which is greatly dependent on the parameter ωc/ωp. The larger ωc/ωp is, the smaller λb will be needed. Moreover, the system parameters, including the wave number kx of the perturbations and the relativistic mass factor γb, will also influence the growth rate of diocotron instability obviously.

Modulational Instability of Ion—Acoustic Waves in a Warm Plasma with a Relativistic Electron Beam

The modulational instability of ion-acoustic wave in a collisionless, unmagnetized plasma consisting of warm ions, hot isothermal electrons, and relativistic electron beam is studied. A modified nonlinear Schr?dinger equation including one additional term that comes from the effect of relativistic electron beam is derived. It is found that the inclusion of a relativistic electron beam would modify the modulational instability of the wave packet and could not admit any stationary soliton waves.

Onset of Linear Instability in a Complex Plasma with Cairns Distributed Electrons

A rigorous theoretical investigation of linear dust ion acoustic (DIA) solitary waves in an unmagnetized complex plasma consisting of ion and ion beam fluids, nonthermal electrons that are Cairns distributed and immobile dust particles were undertaken. It was found out that, for large beam speeds, three stable modes propagated as solitary waves in the beam plasma. These were the “Fast”, “Slow” and “Ion-acoustic” modes. For two stream instability to occur between ion and ion beam, it is shown that or when .

Kinetic Electron-Ion Two Streams Instability in Space Dusty Plasma with Temperature Gradient

The excitation, growing and damping of current instability is an important and vital subject for a lot of studies through its importance in communication for instance and in understanding the nature of space and the interpretation of many phenomena in space and astrophysics. Recent analytical and numerical works are presented to describe and investigate the excitation and growing of kinetic electron-ion two streams instability in anisotropic inhomogeneous dusty space plasmas. We elucidated the thermal effects of plasma species on the characteristics of such instability. It is found that the gradient of space plasma temperature, , is a cause of interesting physical phenomena. Besides, different parameters, such as electron to ion temperature ratio , magnetized plasma and dust grains, are also found to play a crucial role in the growth and depression of such instability.

Capturing Plateau-Rayleigh instability in silver nanowires via ultrafast electron microscopy

Understanding the structural stability of nanomaterials such as nanowires is imperative for their practical applications.Here,using single-shot ultrafast transmission electron microscopy,we captured the Plateau-Rayleigh instability behavior of silver nanowires decomposing into silver nanoparticles upon laser irradiation on nanosecond time scales.We found that this dynamic process can be accelerated by a factor of 10 through increasing the peak laser fluence from 6.03 to 14.60 mJ/cm^(2).Moreover,by comparing the laser fluence required to initiate the Plateau-Rayleigh instability in silver nanowires on carbon and Formvar membranes,it was found that the main driving force for the Plateau-Rayleigh instability in this study was substrate heating.Finite element analysis and molecular dynamics simulations are also applied to estimate the temperature jump of the nanowires and atomistic behavior,respectively.In addition,the complex motions of silver nanowires under laser irradiation were systematically investigated by combining the results of ultrafast transmission electron microscopy with scanning electron microscopy characterizations and were determined to be related to nanowire-membrane interactions or pre-existing stresses on the nanowires,which in turn demonstrated the potential of ultrafast transmission electron microscopy for the characterization of nanomaterials and devices under extreme conditions.

Energy distribution extraction of negative charges responsible for positive bias temperature instability

A new method is proposed to extract the energy distribution of negative charges, which results from electron trapping by traps in the gate stack of n MOSFET during positive bias temperature instability（PBTI） stress based on the recovery measurement. In our case, the extracted energy distribution of negative charges shows an obvious dependence on energy,and the energy level of the largest energy density of negative charges is 0.01 eV above the conduction band of silicon. The charge energy distribution below that energy level shows strong dependence on the stress voltage.

Plural interactions of space charge wave harmonics during the development of two-stream instability

We construct a cubically nonlinear theory of plural interactions between harmonics of the growing space charge wave（SCW） during the development of the two-stream instability. It is shown that the SCW with a wide frequency spectrum is formed when the frequency of the first SCW harmonic is much lower than the critical frequency of the two-stream instability.Such SCW has part of the spectrum in which higher harmonics have higher amplitudes. We analyze the dynamics of the plural harmonic interactions of the growing SCW and define the saturation harmonic levels. We find the mechanisms of forming the multiharmonic SCW for the waves with frequencies lower than the critical frequency and for the waves with frequencies that exceed the critical frequency.

Criteria for Instability and Chaos in Nonlinear Systems

In the article, the methods of investigating the instability that were formulated earlier by the authors are systematized in the form of a set of criteria for the instability and chaos. The latest ones are used to study chaotic dynamics in the problems of Sprott and the nonlinear electronic generator of the CRC.

Induced ion-channel instability

In this paper, a new mechanism of electromagnetic instability, the induced ion-channel instability, is stud- ied. It is based on the transverse driven betatron oscillation of relativistic electron beam induced by an additional magnetic undulator with a period close to the betatron wavelength in an ion channel. As its amplitude is sensitive to the electron beam energy, the driven betatron oscillation may determine electron beam grouping in the ponderomotive potential by selecting the undulator strength and period, and it provides a new mechanism of electron bunching, re- sulting in electromagnetic instability. Under proper condition, a new free-electron laser based on this mechanism may be realized.

Gyrokinetic simulations of the kinetic electron effects on the electrostatic instabilities on the ITER baseline scenario

The linear and nonlinear simulations are carried out using the gyrokinetic code NLT for the electrostatic instabilities in the core region of a deuterium plasma based on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor(ITER)baseline scenario.The kinetic electron effects on the linear frequency and nonlinear transport are studied by adopting the adiabatic electron model and the fully drift-kinetic electron model in the NLT code,respectively.The linear simulations focus on the dependence of linear frequency on the plasma parameters,such as the ion and electron temperature gradientsκ_(Ti,e)≡R=L_(Ti,e),the density gradientκ_(n)≡R/L_(n)and the ion-electron temperature ratioτ=T_(e)=T_(i).Here,is the major radius,and T_(e)and T_(i)denote the electron and ion temperatures,respectively.L_(A)=-(δ_(r)lnA)^(-1)is the gradient scale length,with denoting the density,the ion and electron temperatures,respectively.In the kinetic electron model,the ion temperature gradient(ITG)instability and the trapped electron mode(TEM)dominate in the small and large k_(θ)region,respectively,wherek_(θ)is the poloidal wavenumber.The TEMdominant region becomes wider by increasing(decreasing)κ_(T_(e))(κ_(T_(i)))or by decreasingκ_(n).For the nominal parameters of the ITER baseline scenario,the maximum growth rate of dominant ITG instability in the kinetic electron model is about three times larger than that in the adiabatic electron model.The normalized linear frequency depends on the value ofτ,rather than the value of T_(e)or T_(i),in both the adiabatic and kinetic electron models.The nonlinear simulation results show that the ion heat diffusivity in the kinetic electron model is quite a lot larger than that in the adiabatic electron model,the radial structure is finer and the time oscillation is more rapid.In addition,the magnitude of the fluctuated potential at the saturated stage peaks in the ITGdominated region,and contributions from the TEM(dominating in the higher k_(θ)region)to the nonlinear transport can be neglected.In the adiabatic electron model,the zonal radial electric field is found to be mainly driven by the turbulent energy flux,and the contribution of turbulent poloidal Reynolds stress is quite small due to the toroidal shielding effect.However,in the kinetic electron model,the turbulent energy flux is not strong enough to drive the zonal radial electric field in the nonlinear saturated stage.The kinetic electron effects on the mechanism of the turbulence-driven zonal radial electric field should be further investigated.

Approximating the Radial Distribution Function of the Electron in a Hydrogen Atom by a Normal Distribution Suggests That Magnetic Confinement Fusion Would Be Less Energy Efficient than Inertial Confinement Fusion

Since the position of the electron in a hydrogen atom cannot be determined, the region in which it resides is said to be determined stochastically and forms an electron cloud. The probability density function of the single electron in 1s orbit is expressed as φ2, a function of distance from the nucleus. However, the probability of existence of the electron is expressed as a radial distribution function at an arbitrary distance from the nucleus, so it is estimated as the probability of the entire spherical shape of that radius. In this study, it has been found that the electron existence probability approximates the radial distribution function by assuming that the probability of existence of the electron being in the vicinity of the nucleus follows a normal distribution for arbitrary x-, y-, and z-axis directions. This implies that the probability of existence of the electron, which has been known only from the distance information, would follow a normal distribution independently in the three directions. When the electrons’ motion is extremely restricted in a certain direction by the magnetic field of both tokamak and helical fusion reactors, the probability of existence of the electron increases with proximity to the nucleus, and as a result, it is less likely to be liberated from the nucleus. Therefore, more and more energy is required to free the nucleus from the electron in order to generate plasma.

Secure approach to sharing digitized medical data in a cloud environment

Without proper security mechanisms, medical records stored electronically can be accessed more easily than physical files. Patient health information is scattered throughout the hospital environment, including laboratories, pharmacies, and daily medical status reports. The electronic format of medical reports ensures that all information is available in a single place. However, it is difficult to store and manage large amounts of data. Dedicated servers and a data center are needed to store and manage patient data. However, self-managed data centers are expensive for hospitals. Storing data in a cloud is a cheaper alternative. The advantage of storing data in a cloud is that it can be retrieved anywhere and anytime using any device connected to the Internet. Therefore, doctors can easily access the medical history of a patient and diagnose diseases according to the context. It also helps prescribe the correct medicine to a patient in an appropriate way. The systematic storage of medical records could help reduce medical errors in hospitals. The challenge is to store medical records on a third-party cloud server while addressing privacy and security concerns. These servers are often semi-trusted. Thus, sensitive medical information must be protected. Open access to records and modifications performed on the information in those records may even cause patient fatalities. Patient-centric health-record security is a major concern. End-to-end file encryption before outsourcing data to a third-party cloud server ensures security. This paper presents a method that is a combination of the advanced encryption standard and the elliptical curve Diffie-Hellman method designed to increase the efficiency of medical record security for users. Comparisons of existing and proposed techniques are presented at the end of the article, with a focus on the analyzing the security approaches between the elliptic curve and secret-sharing methods. This study aims to provide a high level of security for patient health records.

Simulation on buildup of electron cloud in a proton circular accelerator

Electron cloud interaction with high energy positive beams are believed responsible for various undesirable effects such as vacuum degradation, collective beam instability and even beam loss in high power proton circular accelerators. An important uncertainty in predicting electron cloud instability lies in the detailed processes of the generation and accumulation of the electron cloud. The simulation on the build-up of electron cloud is necessary to further studies on beam instability caused by electron clouds. The China Spallation Neutron Source （CSNS） is an intense proton accelerator facility now being built, whose accelerator complex includes two main parts： an H-linac and a rapid cycling synchrotron （RCS）. The RCS accumulates the 80 MeV proton beam and accelerates it to 1.6 GeV with a repetition rate of 25 Hz. During beam injection with lower energy, the emerging electron cloud may cause serious instability and beam loss on the vacuum pipe. A simulation code has been developed to simulate the build-up, distribution and density of electron cloud in CSNS/RCS.

Electron proton instability in the CSNS ring

The electron proton (e-p) instability has been observed in many proton accelerators. It will induce transverse beam size blow-up, cause beam loss and restrict the machine performance. Much research work has been done on the causes, dynamics and cures of this instability. A simulation code is developed to study the e-p instability in the ring of the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS).

Analysis of the microbunching instability in a mid-energy electron linac

Microbunching instability usually exists in the linear accelerator （linac） of a free electron laser （FEL） facility. If it is not controlled effectively, the beam quality will be damaged seriously and the machine will not operate properly. In the electron linac of a soft X-ray FEL device, because the eiectron energy is not very high, the problem can become even more serious. As a typical example, the microbunching instability in the linac of the proposed Shanghai Soft X-ray Free Electron Laser facility （SXFEL） is investigated in detail by means of both analytical formulae and simulation tools. In the study, a new mechanism introducing random noise into the beam current profile as the beam passes through a chicane-type bunch compressor is proposed. The higher-order modes that appear in the simulations suggest that further improvement of the current theoretical model of the instability is needed.