Study of Kink Instabilities in Plasma Channels

Heavy-ion beam transport in plasma channels is an option to transport high-current beams which are required in fusion reactor scenarios. The channel provides free electrons that space-charge and current neutralize the ion beams. In addition, the channel creates a large azimuthal magnetic field that prevents the beam ions from leaving the channel. A stable channel is necessary to guarantee good transport properties of the beam [1]. The most threatining instability in a plasma channel is the kink instability, that has helical structure and whose growth is in linear theory given by[2]