Open this publication in new window or tab >>2010 (English)In: Physics of Plasmas, ISSN 1070-664X, E-ISSN 1089-7674, Vol. 17, no 12, article id 122306Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The excitation of electrostatic wakefields in a magnetized spin quantum plasma by the classical and the spin-induced ponderomotive force (CPF and SPF, respectively) due to whistler waves is reported. The nonlinear dynamics of the whistlers and the wakefields is shown to be governed by a coupled set of nonlinear Schrodinger and driven Boussinesq-like equations. It is found that the quantum force associated with the Bohm potential introduces two characteristic length scales, which lead to the excitation of multiple wakefields in a strongly magnetized dense plasma (with a typical magnetic field strength B(0)greater than or similar to 10(9) T and particle density n(0)greater than or similar to 10(36) m(-3)), where the SPF strongly dominates over the CPF. In other regimes, namely, B(0)less than or similar to 10(8) T and n(0)less than or similar to 10(35) m(-3), where the SPF is comparable to the CPF, a plasma wakefield can also be excited self-consistently with one characteristic length scale. Numerical results reveal that the wakefield amplitude is enhanced by the quantum tunneling effect; however, it is lowered by the external magnetic field. Under appropriate conditions, the wakefields can maintain high coherence over multiple plasma wavelengths and thereby accelerate electrons to extremely high energies. The results could be useful for particle acceleration at short scales, i.e., at nanometer and micrometer scales, in magnetized dense plasmas where the driver is the whistler wave instead of a laser or a particle beam.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Institute of Physics (AIP), 2010
Keywords
plasma physics, excitation, driven, wave, acceleration, model, wake
National Category
Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-109566 (URN)10.1063/1.3527995 (DOI)000285770500014 ()2-s2.0-78650868846 (Scopus ID)
2015-10-062015-09-302023-03-24Bibliographically approved