Theoretical Study of Three-Dimensional Coupling of Kinetic Instabilities

The mutual coupling of kinetic instabilities can affect electron transport across magnetic field lines in cross-field plasma discharges, such as the ones observed in Hall effect thrusters. The plasma instability and corresponding transport phenomena in such devices are multidimensional, hence requiring investigations of three-dimensional dispersion analysis. For instance, previous work using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation by [Hara and Tsikata, Phys. Rev. E 102, 023202 (2020)] showed the enhancement of cross-field electron transport due to the multidimensional plasma waves initiated by the coupling of the electron cyclotron drift instability (ECDI) and the ion-ion two stream instability (IITSI) in a two-dimensional configuration, in the absence of dynamics parallel to the magnetic field. In this poster, the development of a 3D dispersion solver taking into account various instabilities, such as the ECDI, IITSI, and modified two-stream instability will be presented. We will discuss the growth rate of the linear instabilities accounting for the 3D plasma dynamics across and along the magnetic field lines.