The objective of the proposal is to produce, in a laboratory plasma device, unstable electromagnetic ion-temperature-anisotropy (EMITA) driven waves. According to the theory to be tested, a high B plasma and a substantial ion temperature anisotropy are required. The plasma will be generated with an inductively coupled "helicon" source that has been enhanced by the addition of ion cyclotron resonant heating. The additional perpendicular heating permits adjustment of the ion temperature anisotropy and raises the ion temperature to the electron temperature. An attempt to achieve a high B plasma will involve letting the plasma expand in to a low magnetic field chamber mated to the end of the helicon source. The chamber is large enough so that the ion gyroradius is smaller than the chamber diameter. The goal of the laboratory experiment is to provide enough information to benchmark the theoretically predicted behavior of the EMITA instability. This instability has been proposed as important in the magnetosheath and has been studied with AMPTEE/CCE measurements.
