EXCITATION AND PROPAGATION OF ELECTROSTATIC ION-CYCLOTRON WAVES IN PLASMA WITH STRUCTURED TRANSVERSE FLOW

Attention has been drawn to the recently discovered inhomogeneous ener gy-density driven (IEDD) instability because of its implications for p lasmas in the laboratory and in space. To be excited, the IEDD waves r equire structured transverse flow, and a range of suitably inhomogeneo us transverse-velocity profiles are possible in the West Virginia Univ ersity Q Machine. This paper describes experimentally measured aspects of this equilibrium essential to the wave growth, the three-dimension al mode structure of the propagating waves, and a transition in the ma gnetic-field-aligned phase velocity that reveals a new aspect of the i nstability mechanism. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.