OSCILLATIONS IN THE PLASMA SHEATH.
Abstract
A theoretical investigation is conducted into the behavior of the ion plasma sheath next to a wall under a sinusoidal-in-time perturbation of the potential of the wall. The analysis includes the effects of electron-neutral particle collisions in the sheath. A numerical analysis is performed in order to obtain quantitative results. It is observed that over a certain range of frequencies there is finite region in the sheath in which the perturbation may propagate. It is of significance that this region begins away from the wall. In the collisionless case, two resonances are observed in the perturbation electric field, at omega/omega(sub O) = .75 and omega/omega(sub O) = .95 where omega/omega(sub O) is the ratio of the applied frequency to the plasma frequency of the uniform plasma. The exact frequency of these resonances is a function of the choice of floating potential of the wall. The results are found to be very sensitive to collisions. The resonances are completely damped by a collision frequency of nu(sub e)/omega(sub O) = .25. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0482799
Entities
People
- Simon H. Schwartz
Organizations
- New York University Tandon School of Engineering