Plasma rotation by electric and magnetic fields in a discharge cylinder

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Abstract
A theoretical model for an electric discharge is developed consisting of a spatially diverging plasma sustained electrically between a small ring cathode and a larger ring anode in a cylindrical chamber with an axial magnetic field, to study the rotation of the discharge plasma in the crossed electric and magnetic fields. The associated boundary‐value problem for the coupled partial differential equations, which describe the electric potential and the plasma velocity fields, is solved in closed form. The electric field, current density, and velocity distributions are discussed in terms of the Hartmann number H and the Hall coefficient ωτ. As a result of the Lorentz forces, the plasma rotates with speeds as high as 106 cm/sec around its axis of symmetry at typical conditions. As an application, it is noted that rotating discharges of this type could be used to develop a high‐density plasma‐ultracentrifuge driven by j×B forces, in which the lighter (heavier) ion and atom components would be enriched in (off) the center of the discharge cylinder.

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