Excitation of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in strongly magnetized low-pressure plasmas

The presence of strong magnetic fields in low-pressure plasmas results in the emergence of various phenomena including filamentation and Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability. It is observed in the experimental studies of magnetized electric discharges that K-H instability can appear in the bulk of the plasma as well as the sheath region near the walls of the plasma chamber. A 3D fluid model of the magnetized plasma is developed to study different aspects of this phenomenon. Numerical simulations using this model have shown that the presence of strong magnetic field results in a localized electric field in the bulk of the magnetized plasma. The localized electric field along with the gradient of density in the filamented plasma results in the drift of the ions across the magnetic field. This drift of the ions is responsible for the excitation of K-H instability in the bulk of the plasma. The electric field and gradient of the density naturally exist in the sheath region of electric discharges so, the presence of strong magnetic field is sufficient to cause the drift of the ions and electrons across the magnetic field. Experimental observation of the phenomenon along with results of the numerical simulations will be presented.