AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF CYLINDRICAL LANGMUIR PROBES IN A COLLISIONLESS QUIESCENT ARGON GLOW DISCHARGE.
Abstract
A glow-discharge, Langmuir-probe apparatus was designed, built, and operated which has sufficient flexibility to accommodate future AFIT probe studies. Experimental probe current-voltage curves in argon, which agree well with Laframboise theory, yielded low electron temperatures (5000K) and reasonable charged particle number densities of 10 to the 8th power to 10 to the 12th power/cc. The two-tangent intercept method of plasma potential determination was validated, and a digital data extraction method, using a multichannel analyzer, was developed. Charge depletion and probe contamination were observed, and a contradiction to the orbital-motion-limit of trapped ion theory was obtained under free molecular conditions. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0829612
Entities
People
- Robert Brian Bell
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology