On the hysteresis in fireball formation and extinction
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (United States)
A model is proposed to explain hysteresis observed in reball formation and extinction as electrode bias is varied in partially ionized plasmas. Formation is predicted after a su ciently deep potential well for electrons is established in the electron sheath of the electrode. Under the experimental conditions considered, once the reball forms the plasma potential rapidly increases, resulting in electrons being only lost to the electrode.Previous predictions suggest that once formed the reball double layer must maintain a potential close to the ionization potential of the neutral gas to remain in a steady state. In this paper, it is predicted that changes in electrode bias after formation results in a corresponding change in reball size and plasma potential. This change in plasma potential allows the double layer potential to be maintained at biases both above and below the electrode bias at onset. The reball extinguishes when the required double layer potential can no longer be maintained with balance of current loss of the bulk plasma. These predictions are tested experimentally and are found to be in good agreement with the measurements.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001
- OSTI ID:
- 1492543
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-18-29712
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 1; ISSN 1070-664X
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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