Production of a Very Quiescent Plasma in "Skipping" Magnetic Fields

Abstract

A very quiescent helium plasma, with density fluctuations of less than $0.2\%$, is produced by applying the stabilizing field of permanent magnets. The steady-state plasma column created in this field, which is of the average minimum-$B$ type, not only proves to be extremely quiescent but also has a homogeneous density distribution in the axial direction ($\frac{\Delta n}{n\Delta z}\approx 2\times {10}^{-3}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{-1\mathrm{}}$). The plasma has a density of 5×${10}^{10}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{-3\mathrm{}}$; the electron temperature is about 7 eV.