Nonlinear Instabilities due to Drifting Species and Magnetic Fields in High Energy Density Plasmas

Relative drifts between various species of particles are fundamental driving forces behind many plasma instabilities. Whether it be drifting ions vis a vis electrons or between different populations of electrons such as that caused by a beam in a plasma, excess fields due to charge or current imbalances can drive instabilities such as the Bunemman instability or the bump on tail instability. We study the nonlinear evolution of these processes in the presence of externally imposed transverse magnetic fields. Through the action of v × B drifts and currents, extra electric field components are driven which complicate the response of the high energy density plasma. We aim to suppress undesirable processes and retain advantageous ones by understanding the interplay between these instabilities driven by drifting species. Our results are primarily drawn from simulations using both Vlasov–Maxwell and macro-particle methods. We compare electrostatically driven modes to full electromagnetic treatments. Ion to electron mass ratios of 1, 10 and 100 will be included.