Confinement of test particles in a Malmberg-Penning trap with a biased axial wire

A non-neutral plasma trap has been constructed in which the radial electric field of a non-neutral plasma column is simulated by a biased wire stretched along the axis of the device. The confinement time of test electrons in this device is found to be comparable in magnitude and scaling with that found in pure electron plasma experiments. in spite of the fact that the test electron density is 10(2) times smaller than in a typical purl electron plasma. The confinement time is only weakly dependent on the central win bias. These results may provide useful input to theoretical efforts to explain transport in these traps. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.