How does an electric field perpendicular to a magnetic field cause plasma particles to drift?
In a plasma, charged particles typically gyrate around magnetic field lines. When a uniform electric field (E) is applied perpendicular to a uniform magnetic field (B), the particle's guiding centre—the center of its circular orbit—experiences a drift.1
This drift occurs at a uniform velocity with a magnitude equal to the ratio of the electric field to the magnetic field, expressed as . The direction of this drift is perpendicular to both the electric and magnetic fields.1
Interestingly, this guiding centre drift is independent of the particle's charge and mass. A particle starting from rest in these crossed fields follows a cycloidal path, similar to a point on the rim of a rolling wheel. While the radius of the gyration and the sense of rotation may differ between individual particles, the resulting drift velocity of the guiding centre remains consistent across the plasma.1