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Stochastic particle acceleration in an electrostatic wave
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Stochastic particle acceleration in an electrostatic wave

F Skiff, F Anderegg and M Tran
Physical review letters, Vol.58(14), pp.1430-1433
04/06/1987
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.58.1430
PMID: 10034434
url
http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/119195View
Open Access

Abstract

Stochastic acceleration of plasma ions is observed in the field of an intense electrostatic wave. Both electrostatic ion cyclotron and ion Bernstein waves are launched from antennas at the plasma boundary, and ion motions are observed by laser-induced fluorescence. The threshold for stochastic ion heating is observed for the first time. As anticipated, the ion distribution function changes rapidly above threshold (on a cyclotron-period time scale). Measurements of the wave electric field and the ion distribution function indicate that the ion Bernstein wave is responsible for the ion accelerations. (Author)

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