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Closed form analytic solutions describing glow discharge plasma

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.871516· OSTI ID:383799
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  1. Gas Discharge and Plasma Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People`s Republic of (China)

On the basis of an analytic model developed previously [S. T. Pai, J. Appl. Phys. {bold 71}, 5820 (1992)], an improved version of the model for the description of dc glow discharge plasma was successfully developed. A set of closed form solutions was obtained from the governing equations. The two-dimensional, analytic solutions are functional and completely satisfy the governing equations, the actual boundary conditions, and Maxwell equations. They can be readily used to carry out numerical calculations without the necessity of employing any assumed boundary conditions. Results obtained from the model reveal that as the discharge gap spacing or pressure increases the maximum value in the electron density distribution moves toward the cathode. At a sufficiently large value of gap spacing, the positive column phenomenon begins to appear in the discharge region. The model has the capability of treating the positive column and negative glow as a continuous system without the necessity of studying them separately. The model also predicts a sharp rise of the positive ion density near the cathode and field reversal in the anode region. Variation of the electrode radius produces little effect on the axial spatial distribution of physical quantities studied. {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}

OSTI ID:
383799
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 3; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English