Simulations of ion heating due to ion-acoustic instabilities in presheaths

Beving, Lucas P.; Hopkins, Matthew M.; Baalrud, Scott D.

doi:10.1063/5.0068179

Simulations of ion heating due to ion-acoustic instabilities in presheaths

Journal Article · Mon Dec 13 23:00:00 EST 2021 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0068179· OSTI ID:1838183

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Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Particle-in-cell, direct simulation Monte Carlo simulations reveal that ion-acoustic instabilities excited in presheaths can cause significant ion heating. Ion-acoustic instabilities are excited by the ion flow toward a sheath when the neutral gas pressure is small enough and the electron temperature is large enough. A series of 1D simulations were conducted in which neutral plasma (electrons and ions) was uniformly sourced with an ion temperature of 0.026 eV and different electron temperatures (0.1 eV–50 eV). Ion heating was observed when the electron-to-ion temperature ratio exceeded the minimum value predicted by linear response theory to excite ion-acoustic instabilities at the sheath edge (T_e/T_i ≈ 28). When this threshold was exceeded, the temperature equilibration rate between ions and electrons rapidly increased near the sheath so that the local temperature ratio did not significantly exceed the threshold for instability. This resulted in significant ion heating near the sheath edge, which also extended back into the bulk plasma; presumably due to wave reflection from the sheath. Furthermore, this ion-acoustic wave heating mechanism was found to decrease for higher neutral pressures, where ion-neutral collisions damp the ion-acoustic waves and ion heating is instead dominated by inelastic collisions in the presheath.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003525; SC0014664

OSTI ID:: 1838183

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1835617

Report Number(s):: SAND--2021-15865J; 702255

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 28; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Simulations of ion heating due to ion-acoustic instabilities in presheaths

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