Sheath and presheath in ion-ion plasmas via particle-in-cell simulation

Journal Article · Mon Feb 11 04:00:00 EST 2008 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2838293· OSTI ID:21016325

Meige, A; Leray, G; Raimbault, J -L; Chabert, P ^[1]

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1. Laboratoire de Physique et Technologie des Plasmas (LPTP), Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau Cedex 91128 (France)

A full particle-in-cell simulation is developed to investigate electron-free plasmas constituted of positive and negative ions under the influence of a dc bias voltage. It is shown that high-voltage sheaths following the classical Child-law sheaths form within a few microseconds (which corresponds to the ion transit time) after the dc voltage is applied. It is also shown that there exists the equivalent of a Bohm criterion where a presheath accelerates the ions collected at one of the electrodes up to the sound speed before they enter the sheath. From an applied perspective, this leads to smaller sheaths than one would expect.

• OSTI ID: 21016325
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 92; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ANIONS
BOHM CRITERION
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRODES
PLASMA
PLASMA SHEATH
PLASMA SIMULATION
VELOCITY