Current-driven plasma instabilities in superconductors

We examine here the possibility of current-driven plasma instabilities in superconductors in two temperature regimes. At low temperatures (T≈0) an instability can be generated in a layered system. Near the critical temperature (T≈Tc) an instability can occur in a single superconductor for sufficiently large drifts which might be achievable in the new high-Tc materials. These instabilities offer possibilities for new radiation-source device applications.