Abstract
A RECENT theoretical study (unpublished) of amplification of hydromagnetic waves in the magnetosphere concerns a mechanism which may need attention by designers of laboratory plasma containment devices such as fusion reactors. The instability is driven by a spatial gradient, which is of course the inescapable feature of containment, but the present study is applicable only to mirror geometry with axial symmetry, and it is not clear how serious the analogous modes in less symmetrical geometries would be. The instability belongs to the electromagnetic micro-instability species and seems to have been neglected hitherto1. The conditions for the invariance of the magnetic moment are assumed to be satisfied, the frequency being much less than the gyrofrequency.
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References
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SOUTHWOOD, D., DUNGEY, J. & ETHERINGTON, R. Neglected Plasma Instability involving Bounce Resonance. Nature 219, 56–57 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/219056a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/219056a0
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