Double Vortex Flows in Plasmas Axially Traversing Multipole Magnetic Fields

Detailed observations of 100‐eV hydrogen plasmas moving in a linear quadrupole and a toroidal octupole magnetic field show that the plasmas polarize and that the field lines quickly become equipotentials. The plasmas $\mathrm{E\hspace{0.17em}\times \hspace{0.17em}B}$ drift with negligible diamagnetism in double vortex flow patterns similar to the self‐consistent solutions of Poukey. The agreement is not perfect presumably because the uniform field and steady state assumed in the theory are lacking in the experiments.