Relativistic Electron Beam Heating of a Fully Ionized Plasma

Abstract

Relativistic electron beams with $0.4<\mathrm{}\frac{\nu }{\gamma }<2.2\mathrm{}$ have been used in this experiment to heat a high-density [$n\sim \mathrm{}(5-8)\mathrm{}\times {10}^{13}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{-3\mathrm{}}$] fully ionized hydrogen plasma immersed in a magnetic field. The resulting heating levels are strongly dependent on the effective diode impedance $Z=\frac{V}{I}$ and, correspondingly, the $\frac{\nu }{\gamma }$ of the beam. Measurement of the total plasma energy from the plasma diamagnetism and the ion energy distribution from analyses of charge-exchange neutral atoms are used to determine scaling laws for the beam-plasma interaction.