Regulation of the density distribution of a strongly dissipative plasma by a pulsed magnetic field

A pulsed transverse magnetic field with pulse width of 12 ms and magnitude of 2 T was used to modify the density distribution of a weakly-ionized plasma flow with strong collisions between the charged particles and neutrals. The morphology of the plasma is changed substantially, with the density increased upstream and decreased downstream. Meanwhile, the plasma toward the axis contracts laterally and gradually converges to a collimated flow. In addition, a drift wave is observed to be excited in the inhomogeneous plasma by the magnetic field.