Pair-ion plasma generation using fullerenes

The invariant ion-acoustic waves in the plasma

The space plasmas have been found empirically to be separated into those residing far from the classical thermal equilibrium and those residing near equilibrium. The modern formalism of the kappa distributions explains this distinction under the value of the kappa index, the intensive parameter that characterizes thermodynamics together with temperature. Recent studies have suggested that by defining an invariant kappa index as the zero dimensionality spectral index, [Formula: see text], which is independent of the dimensionality, the degrees of freedom, or the numbers of particles, one may separately consider the physical and thermodynamic feature of the kappa index in space plasmas by utilizing [Formula: see text]. This study extends the mentioned idea to the ion-acoustic waves (IAWs) in the astrophysical plasmas in order to deriving an invariant formalism for the IAWs including the pure thermodynamic features of the background particles. This paper is based on the kinetic theory formalism and the hydrodynamic fluid description for extracting the characteristics of the invariant IAWs. Relying on the Vlasov-Poisson equations, considering a low-frequency band for the weakly damped ion oscillations, we have derived the most generalized formalism of the ion-sound speed in space plasmas in terms of the extended polytropic indices of the plasma species, [Formula: see text], and also the generalized formalism of Landau damping for the invariant IAWs in terms of [Formula: see text], wavelength, and temperatures of the plasma species. In the hydrodynamic description, we have normalized the fluid parameters in terms of the generalized quantities, including the extended formulations of the ion-sound speed and Debye length. Then, by using the perturbation expansion in linear and nonlinear regimes, we may find some other issues in the formalism of the invariant IAWs, such as the effect of the perturbed potential degrees of freedom, [Formula: see text], the isothermal/extended phase speed of the IAWs, and the combined effects of the wave steepening and dispersion of ion waves. We have also derived a generalized KdV equation and its solitary wave solutions in an invariant formalism. Based on the empirical evidences in space plasmas, the far-equilibrium plasmas are characterized by [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]), while the near-equilibrium plasmas are labeled with [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]). We have numerically analyzed our solutions from the anti-equilibrium states at [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]) towards the equilibrium states at [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]). Our theoretical study provides strong evidence, for the first time, about the distinction of plasmas under the value of the kappa index. Our analysis confirms the distinction of the involved IAWs diagrams in the two mentioned regions, where the transition from far-equilibrium states to the near-equilibrium states may occur in the vicinity [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]), denoting the escape state of the evolution.

Modulational Instability of Ion-Acoustic Waves in Pair-Ion Plasma

The modulational instability (MI) of ion-acoustic waves (IAWs) is examined theoretically in a four-component plasma system containing inertialess electrons featuring a non-thermal, non-extensive distribution, iso-thermal positrons, and positively as well as negatively charged inertial ions. In this connection, a non-linear Schrödinger equation (NLSE), which dominates the conditions for MI associated with IAWs, is obtained by using the reductive perturbation method. The numerical analysis of the NLSE reveals that the increment in non-thermality leads to a more unstable state, whereas the enhancement in non-extensivity introduces a less unstable state. It also signifies the bright (dark) ion-acoustic (IA) envelope solitons mode in the unstable (stable) domain. The conditions for MI and its growth rate in the unstable regime of the IAWs are vigorously modified by the different plasma parameters (viz., non-thermal, non-extensive q-distributed electron, iso-thermal positron, the ion charge state, the mass of the ion and positron, non-thermal parameter α, the temperature of electron and positron, etc.). Our findings may supplement and add to prior research in non-thermal, non-extensive electrons and iso-thermal positrons that can co-exist with positive as well as negative inertial ions.

Ion-Acoustic Rogue Waves in Double Pair Plasma Having Non-Extensive Particles

The modulational instability (MI) of ion-acoustic (IA) waves (IAWs) and associated IA rogue waves (IARWs) are studied in double-pair plasma containing inertial positive and negative ions, inertialess non-extensive electrons and iso-thermal positrons. A standard nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) is derived by employing reductive perturbation method. It can be seen from the numerical analysis that the plasma system supports both modulationally stable (unstable) parametric regime in which the dispersive and nonlinear coefficients of the NLSE have opposite (same) sign. It is also found that the basic features of IAWs (viz., MI criteria of IAWs, amplitude, and width of the IARWs, etc.) are rigorously changed by the plasma parameters such as mass, charge state, and number density of the plasma species. The outcomes of our present investigation should be useful in understanding the propagation of nonlinear electrostatic IAWs and associated IARWs in astrophysical and laboratory plasmas.

Overtaking Collisions of Ion Acoustic N-Shocks in a Collisionless Plasma with Pair-Ion and (α,q) Distribution Function for Electrons

In this work, the effects of plasma parameters on overtaking collisions of ion acoustic multi-shocks are studied in an unmagnetized collisionless plasma with positive and negative ions, and (α,q)-distributed electrons. To investigate such phenomena, the reductive perturbation technique is implemented to derive the Burgers equation. The N-shock wave solution is determined for this equation by directly implementing the exponential function. The result reveals that both the amplitudes and thicknesses of overtaking collisions of N-shock wave compressive and rarefactive electrostatic potential are significantly modified with the influences of viscosity coefficients of positive and negative ions. In addition, the density ratios also play an essential role to the formation of overtaking collisions of N-shocks. It is observed from all theoretical and parametric investigations that the outcomes may be very useful in understanding the dynamical behavior of overtaking collisions of multi-shocks in various environments, especially the D- and F-regions of the Earth’s ionosphere and the future experimental investigations in Q-machine laboratory plasmas.

Simulation study on nonlinear structures in nonlinear dispersive media

In this work, the dynamic mechanism scenario of nonlinear electrostatic structures (unmodulated and modulated waves) that can propagate in multi-ion plasmas with the mixture of sulfur hexafluoride and argon gas is reported. For this purpose, the fluid equations of the multi-ion plasma species are reduced to the evolution (nonplanar Gardner) equation using the reductive perturbation technique. Until now, it has been known that the solution of nonplanar Gardner equation is not possible and for stimulating our data, it will solve numerically. At that point, the present study is divided into two parts: the first one is analyzing planar and nonplanar Gardner equations using the Adomian decomposition method (ADM) for investigating the unmodulated structures such as solitary waves. Moreover, a comparison between the analytical and numerical simulation solutions for the planar Gardner equation is examined, showing how powerful the ADM is in finding solutions in the short domain as well as its fast convergence, i.e., the approximate solution is consistent with the analytical solution for the planar Gardner equation after a few iterations. Second, the modulated envelope structures such as freak waves (FWs) are investigated in the framework of the Gardner equation by transforming this equation to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE). Again, the ADM is used to solve the NLSE for studying FWs numerically. Furthermore, the effect of physical parameters of the plasma environment (e.g., Ar⁺-SF₅ ⁺-F^--SF₅ ^- plasma) on the characteristics of the nonlinear pulse profile is elaborated. These results help in a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of fluid physics governing the plasma processes.

Electrostatic rogue waves in double pair plasmas

A nonlinear Schrödinger equation is derived to investigate the modulational instability of ion-acoustic (IA) waves (IAWs) in a double pair plasma system containing adiabatic positive and negative ion fluids along with super-thermal electrons and positrons. The analytical analysis predicts two types of modes, viz., fast ( ω f ) and slow ( ω s ) IA modes. The possible stable and unstable parametric regions for the IAWs in the presence of external perturbation can be observed for both ω f and ω s . The number density of the negative ions and positrons plays a vital role in generating the IA rogue waves in the modulationally unstable region. The applications of our present work in astrophysical environments [viz., D-region (H + , O 2 - ) and F-region (H + , H - ) of the Earth's ionosphere] and in laboratory plasmas [viz., pair-ion fullerene (C + , C - )] are pinpointed.

Chaos of energetic positron orbits in a dipole magnetic field and its potential application to a new injection scheme

We study the behavior of high-energy positrons emitted from a radioactive source in a magnetospheric dipole field configuration. Because the conservation of the first and second adiabatic invariants is easily destroyed in a strongly inhomogeneous dipole field for high-energy charged particles, the positron orbits are nonintegrable, resulting in chaotic motions. In the geometry of a typical magnetospheric levitated dipole experiment, it is shown that a considerable ratio of positrons from a ^{22}Na source, located at the edge of the confinement region, has chaotic long orbit lengths before annihilation. These particles make multiple toroidal circulations and form a hollow toroidal positron cloud. Experiments with a small ^{22}Na source in the Ring Trap 1 (RT-1) device demonstrated the existence of such long-lived positrons in a dipole field. Such a chaotic behavior of high-energy particles is potentially applicable to the formation of a dense toroidal positron cloud in the strong-field region of the dipole field in future studies.

Strongly Enhanced Stimulated Brillouin Backscattering in an Electron-Positron Plasma

Stimulated Brillouin backscattering of light is shown to be drastically enhanced in electron-positron plasmas, in contrast to the suppression of stimulated Raman scattering. A generalized theory of three-wave coupling between electromagnetic and plasma waves in two-species plasmas with arbitrary mass ratios, confirmed with a comprehensive set of particle-in-cell simulations, reveals violations of commonly held assumptions about the behavior of electron-positron plasmas. Specifically, in the electron-positron limit three-wave parametric interaction between light and the plasma acoustic wave can occur, and the acoustic wave phase velocity differs from its usually assumed value.

Nonlinear Landau damping and modulation of electrostatic waves in a nonextensive electron-positron-pair plasma

The nonlinear theory of amplitude modulation of electrostatic wave envelopes in a collisionless electron-positron (EP) pair plasma is studied by using a set of Vlasov-Poisson equations in the context of Tsallis' q-nonextensive statistics. In particular, the previous linear theory of Langmuir oscillations in EP plasmas [Saberian and Esfandyari-Kalejahi, Phys. Rev. E 87, 053112 (2013)] is rectified and modified. Applying the multiple scale technique (MST), it is shown that the evolution of electrostatic wave envelopes is governed by a nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation with a nonlocal nonlinear term ∝P∫|ϕ(ξ',τ)|(2)dξ'ϕ/(ξ-ξ') [where P denotes the Cauchy principal value, ϕ is the small-amplitude electrostatic (complex) potential, and ξ and τ are the stretched coordinates in MST], which appears due to the wave-particle resonance. It is found that a subregion 1/3<q≲3/5 of superextensivity (q<1) exists where the carrier-wave frequency can turn over with the group velocity going to zero and then to negative values. The effects of the nonlocal nonlinear term and the nonextensive parameter q are examined on the modulational instability of wave envelopes, as well as on the solitary wave solution of the NLS equation. It is found that the modulated wave packet is always unstable (nonlinear Landau damping) due to the nonlocal nonlinearity in the NLS equation. Furthermore, the effect of the nonlinear Landau damping is to slow down the amplitude of the wave envelope, and the corresponding decay rate can be faster the larger is the number of superthermal particles in pair plasmas.

Electrostatic ion cyclotron and ion plasma waves in a symmetric pair-ion plasma cylinder

Complicated wave behavior observed in the cylindrical pair-ion (fullerene) experiments by Oohara and co-workers are now identified to be low harmonic ion cyclotron waves combined with ion plasma oscillations inherent to kinetic theory. The electrostatic dispersion equation derived is based on an approximation for the current from the exact solutions of the characteristic cylindrical geometry form of the Vlasov plasma equation in a uniform magnetized plasma cylinder surrounded by a larger metal boundary outside a vacuum gap, which thus differs from that in unbounded plasmas. Positive and negative ions, differing only in the sign of their charge, respond to a potential in the same time scale and cooperate to reflect the enhanced kinetic orbital behaviors to the macroscopic propagation characteristics. In addition, the experimental value of the Larmor radius (comparable to the discharge radius but small enough to make the analytic approximation useful) makes higher harmonic ion cyclotron effects both observable and calculable with the appropriate approximation for the kinetic theory.

Langmuir oscillations in a nonextensive electron-positron plasma

The Langmuir oscillations, Landau damping, and growing unstable modes in an electron-positron (EP) plasma are studied by using the Vlasov and Poisson's equations in the context of the Tsallis's nonextensive statistics. Logically, the properties of the Langmuir oscillations in a nonextensive EP plasma are remarkably modified in comparison with that of discussed in the Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics, i.e., the Maxwellian plasmas, because of the system under consideration is essentially a plasma system in a nonequilibrium stationary state with inhomogeneous temperature. It is found that by decreasing the nonextensivity index q which corresponds to a plasma with excess superthermal particles, the phase velocity of the Langmuir waves increases. In particular, depend on the degree of nonextensivity, both of damped and growing oscillations are predicted in a collisionless EP plasma, arise from a resonance phenomena between the wave and the nonthermal particles of the system. Here, the mechanism leads to the unstable modes is established in the context of the nonextensive formalism yet the damping mechanism is the same developed by Landau. Furthermore, our results have the flexibility to reduce to the solutions of an equilibrium Maxwellian EP plasma (extensive limit q→1), in which the Langmuir waves are only the Landau damped modes.

Formation of electrostatic solitons and hole structures in pair plasmas

In an electron-proton plasma, electrostatic solitary waves and hole structures can easily be generated by streaming instability due to the asymmetric inertia between ions and electrons. It has been argued theoretically whether electrostatic solitons and/or hole structures can form in a pair plasma. This paper presents results on the formation of pair electrostatic hole structure in an electron-positron plasma based on one-dimensional electrostatic particle-in-cell simulations. In particular, we show the feature of interlacing electron and positron holes in phase space generated by current-free electron and positron beams streaming in a stationary electron-positron background plasma. The coexistent electron and positron holes are associated with periodic interlacing of positive and negative potentials, respectively. Detailed comparisons between simulation results and linear theory of streaming instability in pair plasmas are made and the thermodynamic state is inferred.

Separation of ion components produced by plasma-assisted catalytic ionization

Positive and negative hydrogen ions are produced by plasma-assisted catalytic ionization using a porous nickel plate, where the irradiation current density and energy of positive ions produced by discharge to the porous plate are controlled. The ion energy distributions are analyzed from the properties of current densities of positive and negative ions extracted from the porous surface. Positive ions passing through fine pores of the porous plate and positive and negative ions produced on the porous surface are observed. It is clarified that the produced fluxes of positive and negative ions and the flux balance between them are controlled by the irradiation current density and energy, respectively.

Spatial distribution of the charged particles and potentials during beam extraction in a negative-ion source

We report on the characteristics of the electronegative plasma in a large-scale hydrogen negative ion (H(-)) source. The measurement has been made with a time-resolved Langmuir probe installed in the beam extraction region. The H(-) density is monitored with a cavity ring-down system to identify the electrons in the negative charges. The electron-saturation current decreases rapidly after starting to seed Cs, and ion-ion plasma is observed in the extraction region. The H(-) density steps down during the beam extraction and the electron density jumps up correspondingly. The time integral of the decreasing H(-) charge density agrees well with the electron charge collected with the probe. The agreement of the charges is interpreted to indicate that the H(-) density decreasing at the beam extraction is compensated by the electrons diffusing from the driver region. In the plasmas with very low electron density, the pre-sheath of the extraction field penetrates deeply inside the plasmas. That is because the shielding length in those plasmas is longer than that in the usual electron-ion plasmas, and furthermore the electrons are suppressed to diffuse to the extraction region due to the strong magnetic field.

Plasma-assisted catalytic ionization using porous nickel plate

Hydrogen atomic pair ions, i.e., H(+) and H(-) ions, are produced by plasma-assisted catalytic ionization using a porous nickel plate. Positive ions in a hydrogen plasma generated by dc arc discharge are irradiated to the porous plate, and pair ions are produced from the back of the irradiation plane. It becomes clear that the production quantity of pair ions mainly depends on the irradiation current of positive ions and the irradiation energy affects the production efficiency of H(-) ions.

Nonlinear three-wave interaction in pair plasmas

It is shown that nonlinear three-wave interaction, described by vector-product-type nonlinearities, in pair plasmas implies much more restrictive conditions for a double energy transfer, as compared to electron-ion plasmas.

Asymmetry-driven structure formation in pair plasmas

The nonlinear propagation of electromagnetic waves in pair plasmas, in which the electrostatic potential plays a very important but subdominant role of a "binding glue" is investigated. Several mechanisms for structure formation are investigated, in particular, the "asymmetry" in the initial temperatures of the constituent species. It is shown that the temperature asymmetry leads to a (localizing) nonlinearity that is qualitatively different from the ones originating in ambient mass or density difference. The temperature-asymmetry-driven focusing-defocusing nonlinearity supports stable localized wave structures in 1-3 dimensions, which, for certain parameters, may have flat-top shapes.

Hydrogen atomic pair-ion production on catalyst surface

To generate a hydrogen pair-ion plasma consisting of only hydrogen atomic pair ions, i.e., H(+) and H(-) ions, the efficient production of pair ions is required. When discharged hydrogen plasma is irradiated to a Ni catalyst, pair ions are produced on the catalyst surface. It is clarified that hydrogen chemisorption on the catalyst affects pair-ion production.

Collective mode properties in a paired fullerene-ion plasma

A pair-ion plasma without electrons consisting of C60+ and C60- is generated through the processes of electron-impact ionization, electron attachment, and magnetic filtering. Properties of electrostatic modes propagating along magnetic-field lines are experimentally investigated by externally exciting them with two types of electrodes. It is found that four kinds of wave modes exist and a frequency spectrum of phase lag between the density fluctuations of C60+ and C60- is unique in comparison with ordinary electron-ion plasmas. One of the modes is an ion acoustic wave which is divided into two branches at around the ion cyclotron frequency in the presence of a backwardlike mode joining them. The phase lag of the ion acoustic wave strongly depends on the frequency, while those for the other ion plasma and intermediate-frequency waves are constant at pi independent of the frequency.

Electrostatic waves in a paired fullerene-ion plasma

Three kinds of electrostatic modes are experimentally observed to propagate along magnetic-field lines for the first time in the pair-ion plasma consisting of only positive and negative fullerene ions with an equal mass. It is found that the phase lag between the density fluctuations of positive and negative ions varies from 0 to pi depending on the frequency for ion acoustic wave and is fixed at pi for an ion plasma wave. In addition, a new mode with the phase lag about pi appears in an intermediate-frequency band between the frequency ranges of the acoustic and plasma waves.

Solitary phase-space holes in pair plasmas

We present theoretical and computer simulation studies of the formation and dynamics of solitary phase-space holes in pair plasmas, which can be applied to both electron-positron plasmas and to plasmas containing positively and negatively charged macro-ions or macro-particulates (charged dust grains). We apply our numerical treatment to the parameters used in a recent series of experiments in a pair ion plasma whose constituents are negatively and positively charged fullerene carbon nanotubes. New experiments should be conducted to confirm our theoretical and numerical predictions.