Experimental observation of the transport induced by ion Bernstein waves near the separatrix of magnetic nulls

Abstract

Abstract The waves in a magnetic null could play important roles during 3D magnetic reconnection. Some preliminary clues in this paper show that the ion Bernstein wave (IBW) may be closely related to transport process in magnetic null region. The magnetic null configuration experiment reported here is set up in a linear helicon plasma device, Peking University plasma test device (PPT). The wave modes with frequencies between the first and third harmonics of local ion cyclotron frequency ( ω ci ) are observed in the separatrix of magnetic null, which are identified as the IBW based on the dispersion relation. Further analysis shows that IBW could drive substantial particle flux across the magnetic separatrix. The theoretical radial particle flux driven by IBW and the measured parallel flow in PPT device are almost on the same order, which shows that IBW may play an important role during 3D reconnection process.