Experimental Demonstration of Hydromagnetic Waves in an Ionized Gas

Abstract

A regular hydromagnetic oscillation was excited in a linear discharge tube with metal walls. An externally applied axial magnetic field and discharge currents less than 10⁴ amperes were essential to the production of the oscillation. Complete spatial current distributions derived from measurements of the radial and time dependence of the three components of magnetic field showed a helical notch (screw thread) of reduced current density which rotated with uniform angular velocity. The pitch and apparent rotational frequency of the oscillation depended on the gas density, discharge current, and applied axial magnetic field; the right‐ or left‐handedness and rotational sense depended on the relative orientation of the applied axial magnetic field and the self field of the discharge current. The helical regularity could be described as a superposition of hydromagnetic waves traveling in the axial and circumferential directions.