Undamped electrostatic plasma waves:

theory and Vlasov simulations

Francesco Valentini
francesco.valentini@fis.unical.it

D. Perrone, F. Califano, F. Pegoraro, P. Veltri, P. J. Morrison, T. M. O'Neil

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012

 Outline

- The electrostatic plasma waves

- Collisionless dissipation of plasma waves: Vlasov equation and Landau theory

- Saturation of wave damping: the nonlinear theory by O'Neil

- How to suppress Landau damping and to get stable plasma oscillations, the
Electron Acoustic Waves (EAW)

- Numerical simulations and experimental results

- Applications to the design phase of space missions

- Conclusive remarks

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012

 Electrostatic plasma waves

−
A simple view: background of fixed ions
+ + + + + + + + e
+ + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + +
−
+ + + + + + + + e
+ + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + +

x
− + + + + + + + +
e
+ + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + +

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012

 The kinetic point of view for a collision-free plasma

Electron distribution function

Vlasov-Poisson equations

Average number of particles in

Particle density

Landau solution in regime of small amplitude oscillations

L. D. Landau, J. Phys. USSR 10, 25 (1946)

Electrostatic fluctuations

The frequency of Langmuir waves

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012

 The meaning of Landau damping

The resonant particles surf the wave and exchange

energy with the wave.

For monotonically decreasing velocity distributions the

number of resonant particles slower than the wave
is larger than the number of resonant particles faster
than the wave

The wave energy is dissipated

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012

 Nonlinear regime: particle trapping
T. M. O'Neil, Phys. Fluids 8, 2255 (1965)
The process of particle trapping produces
Trapped particle phase space trajectories a velocity diffusion that leads to the generation
of a flat region (called plateau) in the particle
velocity distribution at the wave phase speed

Nonlinear saturation of Landau damping

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012
 The search for undamped solutions to the Landau problem
J. P. Holloway and J. J. Dorning, Phys. Rev. A 44, 3856–3868 (1991)

➢Assume a plateau in the equilibrium velocity

distribution at the wave phase speed thus
neglecting the imaginary part of the dielectric
function

➢Assume the plateau is so small that the equilibrium

velocity distribution can be considered as a
Maxwellian

➢Solve for the roots of the real part of the dielectric

function

Electron Acoustic Waves (EAW)

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012

 The excitation of an EAW in a numerical experiment
F. Valentini, T. M. O'Neil and D. H. Dubin, Phys. Plasmas 13, 052303 (2006)

The strategy:
➢We solve numerically the Vlasov-Poisson equations through a Eulerian scheme

➢An external driver electric field is applied to an initially Maxwellian

plasma of electrons and fixed ions.

The resonance peak

We noticed that:
➢The resonance velocity is shifted more and more,

with respect to the analytical predictions, as the strength

of the external driver increases
➢The width of the resonance peak gets larger and larger,

as the strength of the external driver increases

Analogous results can be obtained at lower frequency for the proton branch
F. Valentini, F. Califano, D. Perrone, F. Pegoraro and P. Veltri, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 165002 (2011),
Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 53, 105017 (2011)

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012

 The excitation of the EAW in a real experiment
F. Anderegg, C. F. Driscoll, D. H. E. Dubin, T. M. O’Neil, and F. Valentini, Phys. Plasmas 16, 055705 (2009)
F. Anderegg, C.F. Driscoll, D.H.E. Dubin, and T.M. O'Neil, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 095001 (2009)

The electron trap at UC San Diego

Wave excitation
Experimental thumb curve

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012

 Correction to the theory of undamped plasma waves

F. Valentini, D. Perrone, F. Califano, F. Pegoraro, P. Veltri, P. J. Morrison, and T. M. O’Neil, Phys. Plasmas 19, 092103 (2012)

At variance with previous analytical treatments,

here we retain the contribution of the small plateau

As observed in real experiments, undamped waves can be obtained in a

region much larger than the thumb diagram of previous treatments
Analytical results Numerical confirmation

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012

 Applications to the construction of technological devices
S. Mudaliar and V. I. Sotnikov, IEEE Transaction on Antennas and Propagation 99, 1, (2012)

This region can be covered by

Electron Acoustic-like Waves

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012

 Conclusive remarks

✔We designed a strategy to get stable plasma waves that can survive Landau damping at a frequency
that is a fraction of the electron plasma frequency. The same strategy can be used in numerical as
well as in real laboratory experiments

✔By analyzing the roots of the dielectric function retaining the contribution of the plateau region in
the particle velocity distribution, one gets unstable plasma waves in a wide range of frequencies and
wavenumbers

✔Since the milestone work by Landau in 1946 the collisionless dissipation of

plasma waves has been considered a fascinating physical phenomenon.
The study of linear and nonlinear Landau damping has nowadays come back
powerfully to the attention of the plasma scientific community with new
results and implications.
✔Cedric Villani received the Fields Medal in 2010 for his studies on Landau damping

✔This work started as an old-fashioned academic exercise, but then it turned out that it has an
unexpected interdisciplinary character, many implications in real experiments and useful applications
in technology

SIF, XCVIII Congresso Nazionale, Napoli 17-21 Settembre 2012