A study of the effective electron collision frequency in a weakly ionized turbulent penning discharge plasma

The effective electron collision frequency is studied on a weakly ionized, turbulent Penning discharge plasma. The magnetized plasma of this discharge is radially inhomogeneous and subject to a high level of low frequency electrostatic fluctuations due to drift wave turbulence. An effective electron collision frequency is determined from collision broadened absorption spectra of the extraordinary mode wave near the electron gyro frequency resonance. When the level of electrostatic turbulence is excited above the level of thermal fluctuations, the collision frequency is significantly greater than the electron-neutral collision frequency. The scaling of this collision frequency as a function of the absolute rms level of electrostatic fluctuations is investigated.