Transient Behavior of Negative Hydrogen Ion Extraction from Plasma

For plasma source,the extraction of negative ions is quite diferent from that of positive ions.To understand the efect of extraction field on plasma,the time-dependent behavior of negative hydrogen ion extraction from a negative ion source has been studied by particle-in-cell simulation in the collisionless limit.The simulations have shown that,due to the diference in dynamics between electrons and ions,the imbalance of the numbers of charged particles occurs in the source,results in the broadening of plasma sheath and the great increase of plasma potential.The resultant high sheath field and the ambipolar electric field in plasma make the negatively charged particles congregate inside the sheath and move toward the extraction outlet.The emission area of negative ions is much smaller than that of the extraction aperture,which is in sharp contrast to the case of positive ion extraction.     

Characteristics of Positive Ions in the Sheath Region of Magnetized Collisional Electronegative Discharges

A hydrodynamic model is used to investigate the characteristics of positive ions in the sheath region of a low-pressure magnetized electronegative discharge. Positive ions are modeled as a cold fluid, while the electron and negative ion density distributions obey the Boltzmann distribution with two different temperatures. By taking into account the ion-neutral collision effect in the sheath region and assuming that the momentum transfer cross section has a power law dependence on the velocity of positive ions, the sheath formation criterion （modified Bohm＇s criterion） is derived and it is shown that there are specified maximum and minimum limits for the ion Mach number M. Considering these two limits of M, the behaviors of electrostatic potential, charged particle density distributions and positive ion velocities in the sheath region are studied for different values of ion-neutral collision frequency.     

Electric Potential in Surface Produced Negative Ion Source with Magnetic Field Increasing Toward a Wall

Electric potential near a wall for plasma with the surface produced negative ions with magnetic field increasing toward a wall is investigated analytically.The potential profile is derived analytically by using a plasma-sheath equation,where negative ions produced on the plasma grid (PG) surface are considered in addition to positive ions and electrons.The potential profile depends on the amount and the temperature of the surface produced negative ions and the profile of the magnetic field.The negative potential peak is formed in the sheath region near the PG surface for the case of strong surface production of negative ions or low temperature negative ions.As the increase rate of the magnetic field near the wall becomes large,the negative potential peak becomes small.     

Sheath Criterion for an Electronegative Plasma Sheath in an Oblique Magnetic Field

The sheath criterion for an electronegative plasma composed of hot electrons,hot negative ions and cold positive ions in an oblique magnetic field is investigated.We discuss the effects of negative ions and external magnetic field on the sheath criterion.We find that the ion Mach number is of relatively low value because of Coulomb attraction between positive and negative ions.Also the ion Mach number depends on the magnitude and the angle of the magnetic field as well as the initial velocity of ion flow.     

Effects of Fast-Ion Injection on a Magnetized Sheath near a Floating Wall

A fully kinetic particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo model is employed to self-consistently study the effects of fast-ion injection on sheath potential and electric field profile in collisional magnetized plasma with a floating absorbing wall. The influences of the fast-ion injection velocity and density, the magnetic field and angle θ0 formed by the magnetic field and the x-axis on the sheath potential and electric field are discussed in detail. Numerical results show that increasing fast-ion injection density or decreasing injection velocity can enhance the potential drop and electric field in the sheath. Also, increasing the magnetic field strength can weaken the loss of charged particles to the wall and thus decrease the potential and electric field in the sheath. The time evolution of ion flux and velocity distribution on the wall is found to be significantly affected by the magnetic field.     

The Influence of the Negative Radial Electric Field on the Orbit of Banana Particles in Tokamak

This paper explores the patterns of influence of the negative radial electric field on the drift displacement and trajectory of charged particles, for it is essential for further investigation into the transitional mechanism of L-H Mode. In the light of superposition between the poloidal velocity of charged particles and the E ×B drift caused by the negative radial electric field, the paper offers a theoretical analysis and value simulations. Under the action of different radial electric fields, results have been obtained in regard to changes in the velocity of charged particles (mainly ions), patterns of changes in drift displacement, regional change of banana particles, and features of transition and change between trajectories of transiting particles and banana particles.     

Sheath Structures of Strongly Electronegative Plasmas

The sheath structures of strongly electronegative plasmas axe investigated on basis of the accurate Bohm criterion obtained by Sagdeev potential. It is found that the presheath transition between the bulk plasma and the sheath almost does not exist there, and that distributions of electrons, negative and positive ions in the sheath form a pure positive ion sheath near the boundary of the electrode. Furthermore, the density distribution of space net charge has a peak near the sheath edge, the spatial potential within the sheath falls faster, and the sheath thickness becomes thinner.     

Some studies on transient behaviours of sheath formation in dusty plasma with the effect of adiabatically heated electrons and ions

Based on quasipotential analysis, a plasma sheath is studied through the derivation of the Sagdeev potential equation in dusty plasma coexisting with adiabatically heated electrons and ions. Salient features as to the existence of sheaths are shown by solving the Sagdeev potential equation through the Runge–Kutta method, with appropriate consideration of adiabatically heated electrons and ions in the dynamical system. It has been shown that adiabatic heating of plasma sets a limit to the critical dust speed depending on the densities and Mach number, and it is believed that its role is very important to the sheath. One present problem is the contraction of the sheath region whereby dust grains levitated into the sheath lead to a crystallization similar to the formation of nebulons and are compressed to a larger chunk of the dust cloud by shrinking of the sheath. Our overall observations advance knowledge of sheath formation and are expected to be of interest in astroplasmas.     

Characteristics of a Sheath with Secondary Electron Emission in the Double Walls of a Hall Thruster

In order to investigate the effects of secondary electrons,which are emitted from the wall,on the performance of a thruster,a one-dimensional fluid model of the plasma sheath in double walls is applied to study the characteristics of a magnetized sheath.The effects of secondary electron emission (SEE) coefficients and trapping coefficients,as well as magnetic field,on the structure of the plasma sheath are investigated.The results show that sheath potential and wall potential rise with the increment of SEE coefficient and trapping coefficient which results in a reduced sheath thickness.In addition,magnetic field strength will influence the sheath potential distributions.     

Study on plasma sheath and plasma transport properties in the azimuthator

A physical model of transport in an azimuthator channel with the sheath effect resulting from the interaction between the plasma and insulation wall is established in this paper.Particle in cell simulation is carded out by the model and results show that,besides the transport due to classical and Bohm diffusions,the sheath effect can significantly influences the transport in the channel.As a result,the ion density is larger than the electron density at the exit of azimuthator,and the non-neutral plasma jet is divergent,which is unfavorable for mass separation.Then,in order to improve performance of the azimuthator,a cathode is designed to emit electrons.Experiment results have demonstrated that the auxiliary cathode can obviously compensate the space charge in the plasma.     

Combined Effect of Ion Temperature and Magnetic Field on Collisionless Sheath Structure

A steady state two-fluid model has been used to study the characteristics of the collisionless plasma sheath in the presence of an external magnetic field and by taking into account both the ion temperature and the ion drift velocity at the sheath edge. The number and momentum equations of ions, the Boltzmann distribution of electrons and Poisson equations are solved numerically. The dependence of the Bohm magnetized sheath criterion to ion temperature is examined. It is shown that the ion temperature has significant effects on the sheath characteristics such as ion velocity, charged particles densities and electric potential. In the specific orientations of the magnetic field, it is found that by increasing the ion temperature, the ions do not achieve energy and the kinetic energy of the ions in the depth direction reaches the specific value at bigger distance from the plasma-sheath boundary.     

Kinetic simulation of an electronegative plasma with a cut-off distribution and modified Bohm criterion

A kinetic simulation model has been employed to study the properties of an electronegative magnetized plasma sheath assuming the cut-off distribution of electrons and negative ions. The fundamental kinetic Bohm condition for the electronegative magnetized plasma has paramount importance for the formation of a stationary plasma sheath near the material wall. The presence of an oblique magnetic field in an electronegative plasma affects the ion distribution at the plasma injection side and at the wall. The temperature profile of negative charged particles has a non-uniform distribution, which determines the energy flow towards the wall.     

Influence of the Collisions on the Dusty Plasma Sheath in the Presence of an Oblique Magnetic Field

The dust dynamics in a magnetized collisional plasma-sheath are numerically studied by using the fluid model. Isothermal electrons, cold fluid ions, cold fluid dust grains and immobile neutral particles are taken into account in the sheath. As dust can be created by detaching small pieces of the wall limiting plasma, naturally, these grains can have different sizes. Therefore, the influence of dust size on the sheath characteristics is considered. Assuming the dust–neutral collision cross section has a power law dependency on the dust velocity. The comparison of the effect of the dust radius in both specific collisional models shows that in the constant cross section model, dust size plays a more role with respect to the constant collision frequency. The effect of the dust size on dust velocity is investigated for different values of the power factor. It shows that dust velocity when reaching near the wall in constant cross section model is much less than constant mobility model, and the velocity of the smaller dust is lower on the wall. If dust density is very small, the kind of collisional model has no significant influence on the electric potential. But by increasing dust density, a little fall in the local electric potential and a little rise in the sheath thickness are seen in constant cross section model.     

Effect of Negative Ion Parameters on Sheath Formation Criterion in Electronegative Plasmas

Using a fluid model for three types of particles, the plasma-sheath formation criterion has been analyzed in collisional electronegative plasma, and the effects of the negative ion temperature and density are examined on the positive ion transition velocity. It is shown that in the collisional sheath, there will be an allowable interval for the positive ion velocity between two upper and lower limits as the plasma-sheath formation criterion; by increasing the mean temperature of the negative charge carriers, this velocity interval decreases. To confirm the correction of the allowable interval, the plasma sheath equations are numerically solved, and the negative ion temperature effect for example, is examined on the sheath formation.     

Study on the characteristics of non-Maxwellian magnetized sheath in Hall thruster acceleration region

The secondary electron emission (SEE) and inclined magnetic field are typical features at the channel wall of the Hall thruster acceleration region (AR), and the characteristics of the magnetized sheath have a significant effect on the radial potential distribution, ion radial acceleration and wall erosion. In this work, the magnetohydrodynamics model is used to study the characteristics of the magnetized sheath with SEE in the AR of Hall thruster. The electrons are assumed to obey non-extensive distribution, the ions and secondary electrons are magnetized. Based on the Sagdeev potential, the modified Bohm criterion is derived, and the influences of the non-extensive parameter and magnetic field on the AR sheath structure and parameters are discussed. Results show that, with the decrease of the parameter q, the high-energy electron leads to an increase of the potential drop in the sheath, and the sheath thickness expands accordingly, the kinetic energy rises when ions reach the wall, which can aggravate the wall erosion. Increasing the magnetic field inclination angle in the AR of the Hall thruster, the Lorenz force along the $x$ direction acting as a resistance decelerating ions becomes larger which can reduce the wall erosion, while the strength of magnetic field in the AR has little effect on Bohm criterion and wall potential. The propellant type also has a certain effect on the values of wall potential, secondary electron number density and sheath thickness.     

Modeling of magnetized collisional plasma sheath with nonextensive electron distribution and ionization source

The properties of an atmospheric-pressure collisional plasma sheath with nonextensively distributed electrons and hypothetical ionization source terms are studied in this work. The Bohm criterion for the magnetized plasma is extended in the presence of an ion–neutral collisional force and ionization source. The effects of electron nonextensive distribution, ionization frequency, ion– neutral collision, magnetic field angle and ion temperature on the Bohm criterion of the plasma sheath are numerically analyzed. The fluid equations are solved numerically in the plasma–wall transition region using a modified Bohm criterion as the boundary condition. The plasma sheath properties such as charged particle density, floating sheath potential and thickness are thoroughly investigated under different kinds of ion source terms, contributions of collisions, and magnetic fields. The results show that the effect of the ion source term on the properties of atmosphericpressure collisional plasma sheath is significant. As the ionization frequency increases, the Mach number of the Bohm criterion decreases and the range of possible values narrows. When the ion source is considered, the space charge density increases, the sheath potential drops more rapidly, and the sheath thickness becomes narrower. In addition, ion–neutral collision, magnetic field angle and ion temperature also significantly affect the sheath potential profile and sheath thickness.     

Surface Potential of Dust Grains at the Sheath Edge of Electronegative Dusty Plasmas

In this paper we investigate the dust surface potential at the sheath edge of electronegative dusty plasmas theoretically, using the standard fluid model for the sheath and treating electrons and negative ions as Boltzmann particles but positive ions and dust grains as cold fluids. The dust charging model is self-consistently coupled with the sheath formation criterion by the dust surface potential and the ion Mach number, moreover the dust density variation is taken into account. The numerical results reveal that the dust number density and negative ion number density as well as its temperature can significantly affect the dust surface potential at the sheath edge.