Particle-in-cell study of the ion-to-electron sheath transition

Scheiner, Brett; Baalrud, Scott D.; Hopkins, Matthew M.; Yee, Benjamin T.; Barnat, Edward V.

doi:10.1063/1.4960382

Title: Particle-in-cell study of the ion-to-electron sheath transition

Journal Article · Tue Aug 09 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4960382· OSTI ID:1326057

Scheiner, Brett ^[1]; Baalrud, Scott D. ^[1]; Hopkins, Matthew M. ^[2]; Yee, Benjamin T. ^[2]; Barnat, Edward V. ^[2]

Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (United States)
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

The form of a sheath near a small electrode, with bias changing from below to above the plasma potential, is studied using 2D particle-in-cell simulations. When the electrode is biased within T_e/2_e below the plasma potential, the electron velocity distribution functions (EVDFs) exhibit a loss-cone type truncation due to fast electrons overcoming the small potential difference between the electrode and plasma. No sheath is present in this regime, and the plasma remains quasineutral up to the electrode. The EVDF truncation leads to a presheath-like density and flow velocity gradients. Once the bias exceeds the plasma potential, an electron sheath is present. In this case, the truncation driven behavior persists, but is accompanied by a shift in the maximum value of the EVDF that is not present in the negative bias cases. In conclusion, the flow moment has significant contributions from both the flow shift of the EVDF maximum, and the loss-cone truncation.

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Research Organization:: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000; AC05-06OR23100; AC04-94SL85000

OSTI ID:: 1326057

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1287752

Report Number(s):: SAND-2016-3872J; PHPAEN; 647402

Journal Information:: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 8; ISSN 1070-664X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 13 works

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Cited By (5)

Electron sheath evolution controlled by a magnetic field in modified hollow cathode glow discharge Rane, R.; Chauhan, S.; Bharathi, P. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5038907	journal	September 2018
Ion dynamics in a magnetized source-collector sheath Adhikari, S.; Moulick, R.; Goswami, K. S. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 25, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5045186	journal	September 2018
Plasma boundary induced electron-to-ion sheath transition in planar DC discharge Barnwal, Prashant K.; Kar, S.; Narayanan, R. Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 27, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5108597	journal	January 2020
Self-consistent modeling of self-organized patterns of spots on anodes of DC glow discharges Bieniek, M. S.; Almeida, P. G. C.; Benilov, M. S. Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Vol. 27, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6595/aac0e9	journal	May 2018
Electron sheath evolution controlled by a magnetic field in modified hollow cathode glow discharge Rane, R.; Chauhan, S.; Bharathi, P. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1808.09646	text	January 2018

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