Kinetic model for the collisionless sheath of a collisional plasma

Journal Article · Mon Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4960321· OSTI ID:22599948

Tang, Xian-Zhu; Guo, Zehua ^[1]

---

1. Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)

Collisional plasmas typically have mean-free-path still much greater than the Debye length, so the sheath is mostly collisionless. Once the plasma density, temperature, and flow are specified at the sheath entrance, the profile variation of electron and ion density, temperature, flow speed, and conductive heat fluxes inside the sheath is set by collisionless dynamics, and can be predicted by an analytical kinetic model distribution. These predictions are contrasted here with direct kinetic simulations, showing good agreement.

• OSTI ID: 22599948
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COLLISIONAL PLASMA
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DEBYE LENGTH
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRONS
FORECASTING
HEAT
HEAT FLUX
ION DENSITY
MEAN FREE PATH
PLASMA DENSITY
VARIATIONS
VELOCITY