Nonlinear dynamics of filamentation instability and current filament merging in a high density current-driven plasma

The magnetic field generation due to the filamentation instability (FI) of a high density current-driven plasma is studied through a new nonlinear diffusion equation. This equation is obtained on the basis of quantum hydrodynamic model and numerically solved by applying the Crank-Nicolson method. The spatiotemporal evolution of the magnetic field and the electron density distribution exhibits the current filament merging as a nonlinear phase of the FI which is responsible for the strong magnetic fields in the current-driven plasmas. It is found that the general behaviour of the FI is the same as that of the classical case but the instability growth rate, its magnitude, and the saturation time are affected by the quantum effects. It is eventually concluded that the quantum effects can play a stabilizing role in such situation.