Warm electron-driven whistler instability in an electron-cyclotron-resonance heated, mirror-confined plasma

Abstract
The whistler electron microinstability has been observed in the Constance B quadrupole-mirror, electron-cyclotron-resonance heated plasma. Experimental evidence indicates that the warm-electron component (2 keV) drives the instability while the hot-electron component (400 keV) is stable. Dispersion-relation calculations using a new distribution function (electron-cyclotron-resonance heated distribution) to model the warm-electron component are in agreement with this experimental result.