Sheath-induced instabilities in plasmas with E₀×B ₀ drift

It is shown that ion acoustic waves in plasmas with E₀× B₀ electron drift become unstable due to the closure of plasma current in the chamber wall. Such unstable modes may enhance both near-wall conductivity and turbulent electron transport in plasma devices with E ₀×B₀ electron drift and unmagnetized ions. It is shown that the instability is sensitive to the wall material: a high value of the dielectric permittivity (such as in metal walls) reduces the mode growth rate by an order of magnitude but does not eliminate the instability completely.