Effects of secondary electron emission on the collector and source sheaths of a finite ion temperature plasma
The region between a Maxwellian plasma source and an absorbing surface which emits cool secondary electrons is modeled numerically with dynamic, electrostatic particle simulation and theoretically with a static, kinetic plasma-sheath model. The coefficient of secondary electron emission is varied up to and beyond critical emission which causes electric field reversal at the collector. Results from these models agree very well over this range of emission coefficients. Increasing the secondary emission coefficient reduces the collector potential which increases the total energy flux to the collector while decreasing the ion energy deposited. In the simulation, some heating of the secondary electron stream is observed to gradually evolve over many Debye lengths, possibly because of a beam-plasma interaction. This heating increases potential fluctuations but causes only small deviations from the predictions with static theory. 15 refs., 13 figs., 1 tab.
- Research Organization:
- California Univ., Berkeley (USA). Coll. of Engineering
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-86ER53220
- OSTI ID:
- 5051855
- Report Number(s):
- UCB/ERL-M-88/24; ON: DE88008930
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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