AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF TONKS-DATTNER RESONANCES IN RARE GAS PLASMAS.
Abstract
A quantitative experimental study of the dipole Tonks-Dattner resonance oscillations of a cylindrical plasma column has been made for neon, argon and xenon plasma columns. Discharges were operated in the range of a few mTorr and resonances have been observed in the UHF and microwave frequency range. The resonances have been studied using strip-line and waveguide techniques and diagnostic studies have been made employing Langmuir probes and microwave cavity methods. For xenon, good agreement has been found with the theory of Parker, Nickel and Gould but for neon and argon definite discrepancies exist. This departure has been attributed to ion mean free paths which are not long compared to the tube radius. The effect of ion collisions seems to be to raise the electron density near the wall of the tube causing the resonances to occur at higher frequencies than are predicted by theory for the case of long ion mean free paths. The appearance of fewer and broader resonances than are observed in mercury columns is attributed primarily to the occurrence of moving striations which produce variations of electron density of about plus or minus 50% of the average. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0810290
Entities
People
- David Austin Hart
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School