Can Standing Waves be Used to Trap Electrons in a Vacuum Sphere?

[sondreL]

Is it possible to confine electrons for example into a region using standing waves ? Like having a vacuum sphere and using some 180 degrees out of phase overlayed waves to capture a cloud of electrons in the middle has anything like it been done before and can you please tell me more about it as google seems not that talkative on this one.? thank you.

 

[Bobbywhy]

sondreL, Of course, since electrons are negatively charged they repel one another and resist confinement. What kind of "standing waves" do you imagine using to confine electrons? Electromagnatic (EM) waves? Have you investigated how electrons are manipulated in other devices? CRTs, vacuum tubes, klystrons, magnetrons, and particle accelerators are examples.

 

[sondreL]

I was thinking about electromagnetic (EM) standing wave , assume i have a spherical vacuum chamber and i want to have an electron cloud confined at the middle.

I was just wondering how would the em waves of specific frequency interact with a cloud of electrons in a vacuum chamber , say if those waves would be emitted from 180 degrees apart located wave emitters aimed at each other so that the opposite em waves overlay each other as to form a standing EM wave with say multiple antinodes.

 

[Bobbywhy]

sondreL, It is useful to search the literature for solutions others have already found. Here are three “related” articles:

"Experimental studies of stable confined electron clouds using Gabor lenses"
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1309/1309.4654.pdf

"Characteristics of self-sustaining magnetically confined electron clouds under different electromagnetic fields and pressures"
http://iopscience.iop.org/1402-4896/48/4/016

"Rotating elecromagnetic field trap for high temperature plasma and charge confinement"
http://accelconf.web.cern.ch/accelconf/e04/papers/weplt171.pdf

These may or may not be useful for your project, but they do demonstrate that others have been there and done that. Can you find some software program that simulates the interaction of several E-M waves? You might be able to discover confining forces coming together spatially within that. And then, there is always the actual experiment!

Bobbywy