DRIFT WAVES, ANOMALOUS DIFFUSION AND EQUILIBRIUM IN A MAGNETIZED PLASMA-COLUMN

Spontaneously excited low-frequency oscillations with a frequency of the order of the characteristic drift frequency omega * have been identified as drift-dissipative waves in a weakly ionized helium plasma column produced by a helical microwave discharge source. Plasma parameters are: plasma density, 5*109-8*1010 cm-3; gas pressure, 1-7*10-3 torr; electron temperature, 3-15 eV; ion temperature, 0.2-1.4 eV; magnetic field, 850-2200 G. These waves propagate mainly in the azimuthal direction, in the same sense as the electron diamagnetic drift velocity and have an azimuthal mode number n=1. The theoretical treatment of the drift-dissipative waves in an inhomogeneous bounded plasma system is carried out in cylindrical geometry.