Damped diocotron quasi-modes of non-neutral plasmas and inviscid fluids

Computations of damped diocotron oscillations (quasi-modes) are described for non-neutral plasmas and inviscid fluids: The numerical method implements a suggestion made by Briggs, Daugherty, and Levy some 25 years ago [Phys. Fluids 13, 421 (1970)] to push the branch line that forms the continuum into the complex omega-plane by solving the mode equation in the complex r-plane. For the special case of power-law density profiles the calculation finds the same quasi-mode frequencies found recently by Corngold [Phys. Plasmas 2, 620 (1995)]. It is found that the feature of the continuum eigenfunctions which indicates the presence of a nearby quasi-mode is continuity of the derivative of the regular part of the eigenfunctions near the singularity. The evolution of Rayleigh modes, found in density profiles with steps, is also studied as the density steps are smoothed. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.