PLASMA TRANSIENT RESPONSE AND DETERMINATION OF COLLISION DATA

This paper discusses the transient response of a magnetoplasma subjected to a short pulse at the electron gyrofrequency, which is applied with its electric field perpendicular to the static magnetic field. Experimental parameters are readily realized in which the decay of the transient-response envelope is influenced most strongly by collisions. Under these conditions, fundamental collision data may be derived from observations of the decay rate. Experiments are described in which elastic electron-neutral collisions have been studied in argon. The results of these experiments, made in a far from ideal system, are sufficiently close to accepted data to warrant the conclusion that, with further development, magnetoplasma transient-response studies would provide a valuable new technique for obtaining collision data. They should be particularly useful in the low energy range (≲1 eV). Suggestions are made for appropriate improvements and further applications of the method. © 1968 The American Institute of Physics.