Transport regimes spanning magnetization-coupling phase space

Temperature relaxation rates in strongly magnetized plasmas

Strongly magnetized plasmas, characterized by having a gyrofrequency larger than the plasma frequency (β=ω_{c}/ω_{p}≫1), are known to exhibit novel transport properties. Previous works studying pure electron plasmas have shown that strong magnetization significantly inhibits energy exchange between parallel and perpendicular directions, leading to a prolonged time for relaxation of a temperature anisotropy. Recent work studying repulsive electron-ion interactions (e^{-}-i^{-} or e^{+}-i^{+}) showed that strong magnetization increases both the parallel and perpendicular temperature relaxation rates of ions, but in differing magnitudes, resulting in the formation of temperature anisotropy during equilibration. This previous study treated electrons as a heat bath and assumed weak magnetization of ions. Here, we broaden this analysis and compute the full temperature and temperature anisotropy evolution over a broad range of magnetic field strengths. It is found that when electrons are strongly magnetized (β_{e}≫1) and ions are weakly magnetized (β_{i}≪1), the magnetic field strongly suppresses the perpendicular energy exchange rate of electrons, whereas the parallel exchange rate slightly increases in magnitude compared to the value at weak magnetization. In contrast, the ion perpendicular and parallel energy exchange rates both increase in magnitude compared to the values at weak magnetization. Consequently, equilibration causes the electron parallel temperature to rapidly align with the ion temperature, while the electron perpendicular temperature changes much more slowly. It is also shown that when both ions and electrons are strongly magnetized (β_{i},β_{e}≫1), the ion-electron perpendicular relaxation rate dramatically decreases with magnetization strength.

Ultracold neutral plasma expansion in a strong uniform magnetic field

In strongly magnetized neutral plasmas, electron motion is reduced perpendicular to the magnetic field direction. This changes dynamical plasma properties such as temperature equilibration, spatial density evolution, electron pressure, and thermal and electrical conductivity. In this paper we report measurements of free plasma expansion in the presence of a strong magnetic field. We image laser-induced fluorescence from an ultracold neutral Ca^{+} plasma to map the plasma size as a function of time for a range of magnetic field strengths. The asymptotic expansion velocity perpendicular to the magnetic field direction falls rapidly with increasing magnetic field strength. We observe that the initially Gaussian spatial distribution remains Gaussian throughout the expansion in both the parallel and perpendicular directions. We compare these observations with a diffusion model and with a self-similar expansion model and show that neither of these models reproduces the observed behavior over the entire range of magnetic fields used in this study. Modeling the expansion of a magnetized ultracold plasma poses a nontrivial theoretical challenge.

Numerical study of the transverse diffusion coefficient for a one component model of plasma

In this paper, we discuss the results of some molecular dynamics simulations of a magnetized one component plasma, targeted to estimate the diffusion coefficient D_⊥ in the plane orthogonal to the magnetic field lines. We find that there exists a threshold with respect to the magnetic field strength |B→|: for weak magnetic field, the diffusion coefficients scale as 1/|B→|², while a slower decay appears at high field strength. The relation of this transition with the different mixing properties of the microscopic dynamics is investigated by looking at the behavior of the velocity autocorrelation.

Magnetic Confinement of an Ultracold Neutral Plasma

We demonstrate magnetic confinement of an ultracold neutral plasma (UCNP) created at the null of a biconic cusp, or quadrupole magnetic field. Initially, the UCNP expands due to electron thermal pressure. As the plasma encounters stronger fields, expansion slows and the density distribution molds to the field. UCNP electrons are strongly magnetized over most of the plasma, while ion magnetization is only significant at the boundaries. Observations suggest that electrons and ions are predominantly trapped by magnetic mirroring and ambipolar electric fields, respectively. Confinement times approach 0.5 ms, while unmagnetized plasmas dissipate on a timescale of a few tens of microseconds.

Viscosity of the magnetized strongly coupled one-component plasma

The viscosity tensor of the magnetized one-component plasma, consisting of five independent shear viscosity coefficients, a bulk viscosity coefficient, and a cross coefficient, is computed using equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations and the Green-Kubo relations. A broad range of Coulomb coupling and magnetization strength conditions are studied. Magnetization is found to strongly influence the shear viscosity coefficients when the gyrofrequency exceeds the Coulomb collision frequency. Three regimes are identified as the Coulomb coupling strength and magnetization strength are varied. The Green-Kubo relations are used to separate kinetic and potential energy contributions to each viscosity coefficient, showing how each contribution depends upon the magnetization strength. The shear viscosity coefficient associated with the component of the pressure tensor parallel to the magnetic field, and the two coefficients associated with the component perpendicular to the magnetic field, are all found to merge to a common value at strong Coulomb coupling.

Friction force in strongly magnetized plasmas

A charged particle moving through a plasma experiences a friction force that commonly acts antiparallel to its velocity. It was recently predicted that in strongly magnetized plasmas, in which the plasma particle gyrofrequency exceeds the plasma frequency, the friction also includes a transverse component that is perpendicular to both the velocity and Lorentz force. Here, this prediction is confirmed using molecular-dynamics simulations, and it is shown that the relative magnitude of the transverse component increases with plasma coupling strength. This result influences single-particle motion and macroscopic transport in strongly magnetized plasmas found in a broad range of applications.