Collective interactions and electrical conductivity of plasma in strong electric fields

This work includes the analysis of experiments, made at the Physico-Technical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, which investigated the anomalous electrical conductivity of plasma over a wide range of electric field strengths. The plasma conductivity at medium electric fields is shown to depend in a complex way on the electric field, the exact nature depending upon the type of magnetic trap. Streaming instabilities, primarily the ion sound instabilities, are the main physical mechanisms governing the anomaly of resistance. At high electric fields the electrical conductivity of plasma does not depend upon the value of electric field strength nor upon the plasma temperature, but is proportional to square root n. The dynamics of streaming instabilities in the discharge are studied, and their relative importance in the process of development of a gas discharge is clarified. Experimental values of plasma electrical conductivity are in reasonable agreement with theory.