Topologically-protected surface plasma waves at the surface of inhomogeneous magnetized plasmas

The topological properties of a magnetized cold gaseous plasma have recently been explored and the existence of topologically protected edge states has been established [1,2,3,4]. It has been shown that both high-frequency (electrons-dominated) [1,2,3] and low-frequency (ion-dominated) [4] topological surface plasma waves (TSPWs) exist at the interface of bounded multi-species magnetized plasmas. The studies were carried out for an ideal condition, where the external magnetic field is homogeneous. In this work, we demonstrate by a theoretical model and ab-initio 3D particle-in-cell simulations that TSPWs exist when plasma is kept in an inhomogeneous magnetic field. The plasma parameters, magnetic field strength, and profile used for studies are relevant for a penning discharge plasma machine at PPPL.

[1] J. Parker et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 195001 (2020).

[2] Yichen Fu and Hong Qin, Nature Communications 12, 3924 (2021).

[3] Roopendra S Rajawat, V. Khudik and G. Shvets, arXiv:2203.06693v1(2022)

[4] Roopendra S Rajawat, T. Wang and G. Shvets, arXiv:2209.12748v1(2022)