Wave Number Dependence on Ion Mass Number of Resistive Drift Wave Instabilities

Abstract

Ion mass dependence of the resistive drift wave instability is investigated to understand wave number spectra in magnetized cylindrical plasmas. Modes with larger axial mode numbers are linearly unstable in the case of smaller mass ions as helium. Analytical expression is obtained, which shows that not only the azimuthal mode number but also the axial mode number has the preferable one depending on the mass number. Therefore, 3-D observation of the spatial structure is important to capture the variation including this parameter.