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Title: Experimental studies of the difference between plasma potentials measured by Langmuir probes and emissive probes in presheaths

Journal Article · · Plasma Sources Science and Technology
 [1];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States). Dept. of Engineering Physics
  2. Univ. of San Diego, San Diego, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics & Biophysics

The plasma potential measured by cylindrical and planar Langmuir probes has been shown to differ from the plasma potential measured by emissive probes in the neighborhood of the presheath near a negatively biased electrode immersed in a weakly collisional low temperature argon plasma. There are two principal results demonstrated in this paper. First, while it is well known that Langmuir probes cannot reliably measure plasma potentials inside of sheaths, results presented here demonstrate that the problem persists in presheaths, the quasineutral plasma bordering sheaths. It is known that emissive probes analyzed in the limit of zero emission accurately measure the plasma potential in the sheath. It is now clear that they are the only known electrostatic probe technique able to measure the plasma potential accurately throughout the presheath. Second, it is shown that the difference between potential measurements made by Langmuir probes and emissive probes in the body of the plasma, farther than a presheath distance from the boundary, is not proportional to Te, as has been previously claimed.

Research Organization:
Univ. of San Diego, San Diego, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0014226; PHY-1464741; PHY-1464838; PHY-1804654; PHY-1804240
OSTI ID:
1802588
Journal Information:
Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Vol. 29, Issue 2; ISSN 1361-6595
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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