Sheath Structures of Strongly Electronegative Plasmas

The sheath structures of strongly electronegative plasmas are 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.

Delta distribution of electronegative plasma predicted by reformed“spring oscillator”dynamic equation with dispersing force

In our relevant paper[Zhao S X(2021)Chin.Phys.B 30055201],a delta distribution of negative ions is given by fluid simulation and preliminarily explained by decomposed anions transport equation.In the present work,first,the intrinsic connection between the electropositive plasma transport equation and spring oscillator dynamic equation is established.Inspired by this similarity,reformed“spring oscillator”equation with dispersing instead of restoring force that gives quasi-delta solution is devised according to the math embodied in the anion equation,which is of potential significance to the disciplines of atomic physics and astronomy as well.For solving the“diffusion confusion”the physics that determines the delta profile within the continuity equation is explored on the basis that recombination loss source term plays the role of drift flux,which is applicable for fluid model of low temperature plasma,but not the ordinary fluid dynamics.Besides,the math and physics revealed in this work predict that the ratio of recombination or attachment(for electrons)frequency versus the species diffusion coefficient is a very important parameter in determining the delta distribution,as it acts as the acceleration of object,according to the reformed oscillator equation.With this theory,the analogous delta profile of electrons density in the famous drift and ambi-polar diffusion heating mechanism of electronegative capacitively coupled plasma is interpreted.

Kinetic-theory-based investigation of electronegative plasma–wall transition with two populations of electrons

Kinetic theory has been employed to investigate the magnetized plasma-sheath structure and its characteristics in the presence of more than one species of negatively charged particles:hot electrons,cold electrons,and negative ions.The cold electrons and negative ions are considered to obey a Maxwellian distribution,whereas the hot electrons follow a truncated Maxwellian distribution.The Bohm sheath condition has been extended for the case of more than one species of negatively charged particles,in which the concentration of hot electrons has a crucial role in achieving the Bohm velocity.The thermal motion of hot electrons is much higher compared to cold electrons and negative ions,such that the variation of hot electron concentrations and the temperature ratio of hot to cold electrons play a key role in the determination of the plasma-sheath parameters:particle densities,electrostatic potential,the flow of positive ions towards the wall,and sheath thickness.We have estimated the deviation of the resultant drift velocity of positive ions on the plane perpendicular to the wall from the parallel component at the presheath–sheath interface.It is found that the deviation between the two velocity components increases with an increase in the obliqueness of the magnetic field.Furthermore,the results obtained from the kinetic trajectory simulation model are compared with the results obtained using a fluid model;the results are qualitatively similar,although the potential varies by less than 4%in terms of the magnitude at the wall.

Cylindrical and spherical Gardner solitons and double layers in a dusty electronegative non-thermal plasma with two-temperature electrons

A precise theoretical investigation has been made on the cylindrical and spherical （nonplanar） Gardner solitons （GSs） and double layers （DLs） in a dusty electronegative plasma （composed of inertial positive and negative ions, Maxwellian cold electrons, non-thermal hot electrons, and negatively charged static dust）. The reductive perturbation method has been used in derivation of the modified Gardner （MG） equation describing the nonlinear propagation of the dust ion-acoustic （DIA） waves. The MG equation admits solitary waves （SWs） and DLs solutions for σ around its critical value σ c （where σc is the value of σ corresponding to the vanishing of the nonlinear coefficient of the Korteweg de-Vries （K-dV） equation）. The nonplanar SWs and DLs solutions are numerically analyzed and the parametric regimes for the existence of the positive as well as negative SWs and negative DLs are obtained. The basic features of nonplanar DIA SWs and DLs, which are found to be different from planar ones, are also identified. The implications of our results to different space and laboratory dusty plasma situations, are discussed.

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.

Characteristics of Dust Plasma Sheath in an Oblique Magnetic Field

The characteristics of dust plasma sheath in an oblique magnetic field are investigated with a fluid model. Hot electrons, cold ions, neutral particles, and dust grains are taken into account in this system. We perform a numerical simulation of the sheath. The results reveal that the magnetic field has significant effects on the sheath structure, and it also makes the suspension position of dust shift away from the wall.

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.

Study of a collisionless magnetized plasma sheath with nonextensively distributed species

A weakly magnetized sheath for a collisionless, electronegative plasma comprising positive ions,electrons, and negative ions is investigated numerically using the fluid approach. The electrons are considered to be non-Maxwellian in nature and are described by Tsalli's distribution. Such electrons have a substantial effect on the sheath properties. The study also reveals that non-Maxwellian distribution is the most realistic description for negative ions in the presence of an oblique magnetic field. In addition to the negative ion temperature, the sheath potential is also affected by the nonextensive parameters. The present research finds application in the plasma processing and semiconductor industry as well as in space plasmas.

Laser induced photo-detachment of O2 in DC discharge

Determination of the negative ion number density of O2 and O in a DC discharge of oxygen plasma was made employing Langmuir probe in conjunction with eclipse laser photo- detachment technique. The temporal evolution of the extra electrons resulting from the photo- detachment of O2- and O- were used to evaluate the negative ion number density. The ratio of O2 number density to O varied from 0.03 to 0.22. Number density of both O~ and O increased with increasing power and decreased as the pressure was increased. Electron number density was evaluated from the electron energy distribution function （EEDF） using the I-V recorded characteristic curves. Electron temperature between 2 and 2.7 eV were obtained. Influence of the 02（al△g） metastable state is discussed.