Control of gradient-driven instabilities using shear Alfvén beat waves

A new technique for manipulation and control of gradient-driven instabilities through nonlinear interaction with Alfvén waves in a laboratory plasma is presented. A narrow field-aligned density depletion is created in the Large Plasma Device (LAPD), resulting in coherent unstable fluctuations on the periphery of the depletion. Two independent kinetic Alfvén waves are launched along the depletion at separate frequencies, creating a nonlinear beat-wave response at or near the frequency of the original instability. When the beat-wave has sufficient amplitude, the original unstable mode is suppressed, leaving only the beat-wave response at a different frequency, generally at lower amplitude.

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