My experiments have focused on the physics of single species plasmas -- pure electron plasmas and pure ion plasmas. These non-neutral plasmas exhibit many of the effects found in neutral plasmas. However, the experimental and theoretical simplicity of the system allows a level of comparison between theory and experiment which is rarely possible for neutral plasmas in complex geometry. To date, this program has included research on equilibrium, waves, 2D fluid dynamics, statistical mechanics and particle transport.
Selected Publications:
Observation of Transport to Thermal Equilibrium in Pure Electron Plasmas. With J.H. Malmberg and K.S. Fine. Phys. Rev. Lett 60, 1290 (1988).
Experiments on Vortex Dynamics in Pure Electron Plasmas. With K.S. Fine. Phys. Fluids B2, 1359 (1990).
Experiments on Stability of Equilibria of Two Vortices in a Cylindrical Trap. With T.B. Mitchell and K.S. Fine. Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 1371 (1993).
Relaxation of 2D Turbulence to a Meta-equilibrium Near the Minimum Enstrophy State. With X.P. Huang. Phys. Rev. Lett 72, 2187 (1994).