Kj. Reitzel et Gj. Morales, PERPENDICULAR ION-ACCELERATION BY LOCALIZED HIGH-FREQUENCY ELECTRIC-FIELDS IN MAGNETIZED PLASMAS, Physics of plasmas, 3(9), 1996, pp. 3251-3266
A basic process capable of explaining observations of fast perpendicul
ar ions in a wide range of plasma environments is described. Spatial s
ymmetry breaking perpendicular to the confining magnetic field is show
n to cause irreversible energy gain for ions gyrating through an elect
ric field having a nonuniform amplitude. The efficiency depends on the
ratio of the ion Larmor radius to the scale length of the amplitude g
radient, and on the scaled frequency nu=omega/Omega(i). A Landau reson
ance is not required, and there is no lower threshold on the electric
field, because the mechanism is active in the linear regime. Theory, n
umerics, and particle-in-cell simulations are used to illustrate the i
nteraction for electrostatic fields in the lower-hybrid range of frequ
encies, but the process does not depend on a particular type of mode.
(C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.