Abstract The progress of laboratory experiments on Alfvén's Critical Ionization Velocity (CIV) of gas plasma interaction is reviewed. Since the first review by Danielsson (Astrophys. Space Sci. 24, 459 (1973)), in which the occurrence of the CIV phenomenon in crossed field discharges and in plasma-gas impact experiments was proved, most of the investigations have been directed towards clarifying the microscopic mechanism of the CIV by means of refined diagnostic techniques. The CIV interaction is identified — mostly by the plasma-gas impact experiments — to be a collisionless process, that leads to rapid electron heating, ionization and plasma braking. Turbulent electron heating by a modified two-stream instability is employed in modern CIV theories. Most of the experimental results presented corroborate the prevailance of this type of turbulent heating process.
Review of laboratory experiments on Alfven's critical ionization velocity
Advances in Space Research ; 10 , 7 ; 7-16
1989-01-01
10 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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