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Title: Thermionic Cooling of the Target Plasma to a Sub-eV Temperature

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
 [1];  [1]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
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Contemporary models of bounded plasmas assume that the target plasma electron temperature far exceeds the temperature of the cold electrons emitted from the target, Temit. We show that when the sheath facing a collisional plasma becomes inverted, the target plasma electron temperature has to equal Temit even if the upstream plasma is hotter by orders of magnitude. This extreme cooling effect can alter the plasma properties and the heat transmission to thermionically emitting surfaces in many applications. It also opens a possibility of using thermionic divertor plates to induce detachment in tokamaks.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1512588
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1490508
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-758661; PRLTAO; 946854
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 122, Issue 1; ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 19 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (2)

Influence of the inverse sheath on divertor plasma performance in tokamak edge plasma simulations journal December 2019
On the role of secondary electron emission in capacitively coupled radio‐frequency plasma sheath: A theoretical ground journal July 2019

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