Laboratory Study of Nonlinear Saturation of Velocity Shear-driven Instabilities*

Space observations, theory, and laboratory experiments have shown that small-scale, localized sheared plasma flows can drive a variety of electrostatic and electromagnetic turbulence over a large frequency range. The Space Physics Simulation Chamber at NRL has been used to study these instabilities from the ion cyclotron to the lower hybrid/whistler regime. Results from recent experiments investigating the nonlinear saturation of these non-local instabilities and the transition to turbulence will be presented.