Periodic formation and propagation of double layers in the expanding chamber of an inductive discharge operating in Ar/SF{sub 6} mixtures
- Laboratoire de Physique et Technologie des Plasmas, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex (France)
It has previously been shown [Tuszewski et al., Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 12, 396 (2003)] that inductive discharges in electronegative gases are subject to two types of instability: the source instability related to the E to H transition and a transport instability, occurring downstream when an expanding chamber is present. These two types of instability are observed in our 'helicon' reactor operated without a static magnetic field in low-pressure Ar/SF{sub 6} mixtures. Temporally and spatially resolved measurements show that, in our experiment, the downstream instability is a periodic formation and propagation of a double layer. The double layer is born at the end of the source tube and propagates slowly to the end of the expansion region with a velocity of 150 m s{sup -1}.
- OSTI ID:
- 20713981
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 98, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.1947387; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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