Ion Temperature Gradient instability: Difference between revisions

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Ion Temperature Gradient instability (view source)

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 The instability occurs due to the nature of Grad-B drift. The Grad-B drift velocity of a particle (caused by a gradient in the magnetic field) is proportional to the particle's kinetic energy. Hotter particles drift further than colder particles.
-Hence, if a temperature gradient is aligned with a magnetic field gradient (as occurs in a tokamak), particles in the hotter region will drift further. If there is a perturbation in the temperature gradient, then the difference in drift velocities will create charge separation. The charge separation creates a electric field. This electric field creates an <math>E\times B</math> drift which increases the perturbation's amplitude. The positive-feedback nature of this loop leads to exponential growth of the instability.
+Hence, if a temperature gradient is aligned with a magnetic field gradient (as occurs in a tokamak), particles in the hotter region will drift further. If there is a perturbation in the temperature gradient, then the difference in drift velocities will create charge separation. The charge separation creates an electric field. This electric field creates an <math>E\times B</math> drift which increases the perturbation's amplitude. The positive-feedback nature of this loop leads to exponential growth of the instability.
 Note that if the temperature gradient is anti-parallel to the magnetic field gradient, the <math>E\times B</math> drift will suppress the perturbation rather than increase it.  This situation occurs on the inner, "good-curvature" side of the tokamak.