Transverse Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in a Rotating Plasma
- 1 October 1969
- journal article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Physics of Fluids
- Vol. 12 (10) , 2140-2151
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1692323
Abstract
In thermally ionized alkali-metal plasmas (Q machines), two types of low-frequency oscillations are found: the usual drift wave localized to the region of large-density gradient, and a higher-frequency wave localized to the region of the radial boundary. The latter “edge” oscillation is shown to be a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability driven by the large shear in plasma rotational velocity at the boundary. An analytic solution of the finite-Larmor-radius dispersion equation for the unstable wave is found by making the simplifying assumption that the rotational velocity jumps discontinuously. The results agree reasonably well with experimental measurements.Keywords
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