Abstract
With a neutral beam injected perpendicularly and a strong ion cyclotron range of frequency heating in the magnetic mirror configuration, high beta plasmas with a strong temperature anisotropy are frequently produced. Unstable Alfvén ion cyclotron (AIC) waves are driven with such a strong temperature anisotropy. A magnetic mirror field is the common configuration in fusion devices and also in the space plasmas. The interactions between spontaneously excited AIC waves and plasmas are clearly observed in the laboratory plasmas. The upper bound on the ion temperature anisotropy is imposed by the pitch angle scattering resulting from the excitation of AIC waves. A clear understanding of AIC waves is essential to the study of behaviors of high beta plasmas in the magnetic mirror configuration. In this report, recent experimental observations related to AIC waves are described.
