Estimates of dense plasma heating by stable intense electron beams

Abstract

The plasma current induced by a high-current electron beam generates electron-ion streaming instabilities even if the electron beam itself is stable to electron-electron beam-plasma modes. This paper reviews the temperature- and current-dependence of the electron-ion mode and uses a simple model resistivity to estimate attainable electron temperatures. For beams in the 100 nsec 10 kA/cm2 range, the heating is by ion-acoustic oscillations, and if convective losses are prevented, keV temperatures can be expected in moderately dense (1014 cm-3) plasma.