Characteristics of Turbulence in a Reflex-Arc Plasma

Abstract
The spectral characteristics of turbulence in a reflex arc with thermionic cathodes are described. There are two regimes of qualitatively different behavior: (i) As the magnetic field is increased above the range for which the oscillations are coherent (⪝ 250 G) an m=1 and m=2 mode coexist with several beat frequencies. (ii) At higher fields (⪞ 750 G) two frequencies (related by a factor of 2) are observed; different correlation times are associated with each. Present models of plasma turbulence are inadequate to describe the observations.