Plasma Heating due to Cyclic Diffusion across a Separatrix

We observe plasma heating due to collisional diffusion across a separatrix when a magnesium ion column in a Penning-Malmberg trap is cyclically pushed back and forth across a partial trapping barrier. The barrier is an externally applied axisymmetric "squeeze" potential, which creates a velocity separatrix between trapped and passing particles. Weak ion-ion collisions then cause separatrix crossings, leading to irreversible heating. The heating rate scales as the square root of the oscillation rate times the collision frequency and thus can be dominant for low-collisionality plasmas. The particle velocity distribution function is measured with coherent laser induced fluorescence and shows passing and trapped particles having an out-of-phase response to the forced plasma oscillations.