Initial Report On The Transition to Turbulence in a Magnetized Plasma Column

摘要

Plasma density fluctuations are being investigated experimentally in CSDX, a magnetized plasma column. We show that an effective Reynolds number of the plasma is directly proportional to axial magnetic field strength B and inversely proportional to the ion-neutral collsion frequency, which in our experiment is proportional to the neutral gas pressure. As B is increased, plasma density fluctuations grow in amplitude and evolve to either a multi-mode or turbulent state, depending on the gas pressure. In this final state, correlation dimension estimates of the fluctuations are low for the high pressure case (D ～ 2), but are high and unsaturated for the low pressure case. Together these results present a familiar but incomplete picture of a plasma turbulent transition that features the breakup of an attractor.