Collective Enhancement of Radial Transport in a Nonneutral Plasma

Abstract

Experimental evidence is presented showing that collective effects may enhance the radial transport produced by an asymmetric perturbing field applied to a rotating nonneutral plasma column. The field asymmetry drives an asymmetric plasma mode and the mode field produces additional transport. Of particular interest for confinement systems is the existence of a zero-frequency plasma mode which can be driven by static field asymmetries. Applications to tandem mirrors are discussed.