Observation of chaos caused by flute instability excited in electron cyclotron resonance plasma

Abstract

The behavior of the fluctuation observed in an electron cyclotron resonance plasma was investigated. The amplitude of the fluctuation increased with increasing the incident microwave power and decreasing the gas pressure. The characteristics of the fluctuation indicated that it was excited by the flute instability. From chaos analysis using time series data, it was found that the fluctuation was in turbulent state in the high microwave power region and chaotic state in the low microwave power region. Furthermore, when the multicusped fields were applied, the system transited from a chaotic state to a periodic one.