Ion plasma wave and its instability in interpenetrating plasmas

Abstract: Some essential features of the ion plasma wave in both kinetic and fluid descriptions are presented. The wave develops at wavelengths shorter than the electron Debye radius. Thermal motion of electrons at this scale is such that they overshoot the electrostatic potential perturbation caused by ion bunching, which consequently propagates as an unshielded wave, completely unaffected by electron dynamics. So in the simplest fluid description, the electrons can be taken as a fixed background. However, in the presence of magnetic field and for the electron gyro-radius shorter than the Debye radius, electrons can participate in the wave and can increase its damping rate. This is determined by the ratio of the electron gyro-radius and the Debye radius. In interpenetrating plasmas (when one plasma drifts through another), the ion plasma wave can easily become growing and this growth rate is quantitatively presented for the case of an argon plasma.