A theoretical model of bulk plasma generated by the electron-cyclotron-resonance mechanism

Journal Article · Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Physics of Fluids B; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.860969· OSTI ID:6565228

Uhm, H S ^[1]; Choi, E H ^[2]

---

1. Naval Surface Warfare Center, 10901 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20903-5640 (United States)
2. Department of Physics, Kwangwoon University, Seoul 139-701 (Korea, Republic of)

A theoretical model is developed to explain properties of the electron-cyclotron-resonance (ECR) plasma and an experiment is conducted to compare the theoretical predictions with experimental measurements. A theoretical expression of the electron temperature [ital T][sub [ital e]] is obtained assuming that the plasma electrons are heated by the transverse electric field of the input microwave. The electron temperature is expressed as [ital T][sub [ital e]]=[ital a]+[ital bp][sup [minus]1/2], where [ital p] is the plasma-chamber pressure, and the coefficients [ital a] and [ital b] should be determined from system parameters. Making use of the ambipolar diffusion, the plasma potential [phi] is described in terms of the local plasma density [ital n][sub [ital p]]. That is [ital e][phi]([ital r],[ital z])=[ital T][sub [ital e]] ln[[ital n][sub [ital p]]([ital r],[ital z])/[ital n][sub [ital w]]], where [minus][ital e] is the electron charge and [ital n][sub [ital w]] is the plasma density at the surface of the chamber. For the case of low neutral density, the plasma density [ital n][sub [ital p]] is also expressed as [ital n][sub [ital p]][sup 2]=[gamma][sup 2][ital p] exp([minus][epsilon][sub [ital i]]/[ital T][sub [ital e]])[minus][gamma][sub [parallel]], where [epsilon][sub [ital i]] is the ionization energy of neutrals by electrons and the constants [gamma][sup 2] and [gamma][sub [parallel]] should be determined from system parameters. These theoretical predictions agree reasonably well with experimental data.

• OSTI ID: 6565228
• Journal Information: Physics of Fluids B; (United States), Vol. 5:6; ISSN 0899-8221
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ELECTRON CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE
PLASMA PRODUCTION
BEAM-PLASMA SYSTEMS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
IONIZATION
MICROWAVE RADIATION
PLASMA DENSITY
CYCLOTRON RESONANCE
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
RADIATIONS
RESONANCE
700350* - Plasma Production
Heating
Current Drive
& Interactions- (1992-)