ISSN:
1089-7550
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
In this paper, a number of the methods of nonlinear dynamics are applied to the study of electrostatic turbulence in a magnetized, steady-state, partially ionized plasma. Electrostatic potential fluctuations were obtained by using a capacitative probe. These signals were captured, digitized, and recorded with a LeCroy transient recorder system interfaced to an IBM-AT personal computer. A commercially available software program was used to calculate power spectra, to reconstruct and plot phase portraits, take Poincaré sections, compute correlation dimensions and Lyapunov exponents, and to perform other manipulations of the time series of electrostatic potential fluctuations obtained from the plasma. Evidence of low-dimensional chaos was sought, and trends were investigated which related the state of the turbulence to such plasma parameters as the anode voltage (rms electrostatic potential), background gas pressure (collisionality), and magnetic induction. These variables were found to have a significant effect on the nonlinear dynamics of the plasma.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.346818
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