Electron energy distribution function and dense-gas ionization in the presence of a strong field

The mechanism for dense-gas ionization is analyzed in the case when the deceleration of electrons by gas can be neglected in the equation of motion of a single electron. An expression for the electron energy distribution function in the presence of a strong field is derived. The characteristic width of the distribution corresponds to the energy acquired by the electron at a length determined by the inverse Townsend coefficient. The electron energy distributions are calculated for various distances form the cathode. It is demonstrated that the distribution becomes independent of the coordinate at a distance from the cathode that is significantly greater than the inverse Townsend coefficient. In this case, the distribution coincides with the distribution obtained with analytical calculations. The absence of the coordinate dependence is realized even in the presence of an extremely strong field when, in accordance with the commonly accepted point of view, the majority of electrons are runaway electrons.     

Analysis of dusty plasma in the positive column of glow discharges

The radial distributions of ions,electrons and dust particles in the positive colum of glow discharges are investigated in a tripled-pole diffusion model.The dust particles are mainly trapped in the region around the column axis where the electrostatic potential is the highest.The presence of the dust particles results in the ion density increasing and the electron density decreasiung in the dust-trapped region.The dust-trapped region is wider for a higher dust temperature or a smaller particulate redius.The ions and electrons in the dust-free region away from the column axis are in ambipolar diffusion.     

Wake potential with mobile positive/negative ions in multicomponent dusty plasmas

We employ the test charge approach to calculate the electrostatic potential for a test charge in a multicomponent dusty plasma, whose constituents are the Boltzmann distributed electrons, mobile positive and negative ions, and immobile positive/negative charged dust particles. By using the modified dielectric constant of the dust-ion-acoustic (DIA) waves, the Debye screening and wake potentials are obtained. It is found that the presence of mobile negative ions significantly modify the DIA speed and the wake potential. The present results are relevant to polar mesosphere and microelectronic in the context of charged particle attraction and repulsion.     

Radial Distributions of Dusty Plasma Parameters in a DC Glow Discharge

A non‐stationary non‐local kinetic model for radial distributions of dusty plasma parameters based on the solution of Boltzmann equation for electron energy distribution function is presented. Electrons and ions production in ionizing collisions and their recombination on dust particle surface were taken into account. The drift‐diffusion approximation for ions was used. To obtain the self‐consistent radial distribution of electric potential the Poisson equation was used. It is shown that at high dust particle density the recombination of electrons and ions can exceed their production in ionization collisions in the region of dusty cloud. In this case the non‐monotonous radial distribution of the electric field is formed, the radial electric field becomes reversed and the radial electron and ion fluxes change their direction toward the center of the tube (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Nonlocal phenomena in the positive column of a glow discharge in molecular gases

The influence of nonlocality of the electron energy distribution function on the parameters of a positive column of a molecular gas discharge at a mean pressure from the range 1 ≤ pR ≤ 10 cm Torr is studied. Under these conditions, the electron energy relaxation length is small compared with the characteristic size of the plasma region; that is, calculation can be carried out in the local approximation. For fast electrons at the periphery of the discharge, where the ambipolar field exceeds the longitudinal one, the local approximation may introduce significant errors into the basic parameters of the positive column. The nonlocality of the electron energy distribution function is found to increase excitation constants from the center of the discharge to its periphery.     

Dust acoustic waves in a nonequilibrium dusty plasma

With the use of the method of moments applicable for any values of the parameter of the nonideality of a dusty plasma and the hydrodynamic approach applicable only for small nonideality parameters, the theory of waves and oscillations of a complex plasma has been generalized to the case of a two-exponential interaction potential. It has been shown that the hydrodynamic approach and method of moments give the same dispersion relation for small nonideality parameters. It has been demonstrated that the velocity of dust acoustic waves in the long- and short-wavelength regions is determined by the small and large screening constants, respectively. It has been shown that the velocity of dust acoustic waves in nonequilibrium plasma is much higher than that obtained in the Debye screening theory for equilibrium plasma. In the hydrodynamic approach, the importance of the inclusion of the self-consistent mutual effect of the dust, electron, and ion components, and sinks of electrons and ions on dust particles, which lead to a noticeable change in the parameters of the interaction potential of dust particles, has been demonstrated.     

Formation of the charge and energy distributions of heavy ions in a material in the diffusion model

We investigate the formation of the charge and energy distributions of ions that slow down and randomly change their charges in collisions with particles of the medium. We study the influence that the spread of ions in charge has on the shape of the Bragg curve. The suggested diffusion approximation for the kinetic equation of heavy ions allows the parameters of the ion charge and energy distributions to be easily determined in the entire ion path. The parameters of the ion charge distribution are shown to be related to the ionization-recombination cross sections. The ion distributions calculated in the suggested analytical model are compared with the results of numerical calculations. We have obtained good agreement between the analytical, numerical, and experimental results.     

Charge screening in a plasma with an external ionization source

An asymptotic theory for the screening of the electric field of a dust particle or a spherical probe in a plasma with an external steady and/or internal (proportional to the electron density) gas ionization source has been developed for the first time. It has been established that the screening of the charge of a spherical body adsorbing the charge of the incident plasma particles is described by a superposition of two exponentials with different screening constants. The two exponentials are retained even in the absence of nonequilibrium fluxes on the macroparticle and only in the special case of an isothermal plasma does the screening become Debye one. The screening length is determined by the ratio of the electron-ion, β_ei, and Langevin, β_L = 4πeμ_i (where μ_i is the ion mobility), recombination coefficients. If β_L ? β_ei, then it is much larger than the electron Debye length. The ions in an isothermal plasma have been found to give the same contribution to the screening as the electrons if the electron-ion recombination coefficient exceeds the Langevin ion recombination coefficient by a factor of 2 or more, β_ei ≥ 2β_L. The Vlasov equation is used to analyze the asymptotic behavior of the macroparticle potential in a collisionless plasma.     

一维大气等离子体化学过程数值模拟

用数值模拟方法研究了低空及高空环境下，大气等离子体的化学反应及一维扩散过程. 推导了三组分(电子和正负离子)的双极扩散公式，观察了扩散过程中不同组分的空间分离，以及扩散和化学反应对电子数密度演化的贡献. 关键词： 大气等离子体 化学过程 数值模拟     

Electron temperature in a decaying krypton plasma in the presence of a low electric field

The influence of low electric fields on the average electron energy in an afterglow krypton plasma is studied by means of probe diagnostics and theoretical analysis. It is shown that, when the average electron energy is lower than the energy corresponding to the minimum scattering transport cross section, the degree of plasma ionization substantially affects the shape of the electron energy distribution function (EEDF). The nonequlibrium character of the EEDF results in the density dependence of the coefficient of ambipolar diffusion, which leads to a change in the radial profile of the charged particle density, an increase in the drop in the ambipolar potential across the plasma, and an increase in the rate of diffusive plasma decay. These effects substantially enhance the diffusive cooling of electrons, which is probably a decisive factor influencing the electron energy balance in high-Z noble gases.     

An effective analytical potential including plasma effects

In this work, we have developed a method to build an effective analytical potential for ions in slightly nonideal plasmas. This proposed potential is obtained from an analytical isolated potential with one or two parameters depending on the total number of electrons of the ion. The plasma effects are included by means of the linearized Debye-Hückel approximation taking into account the reaction of the plasma-charge density to the optical electron. Due to the influence of the plasma over the atomic potential, this permits to obtain level energies and wave functions as a function of the inverse of Debye radius, the quantum numbers, the nuclear charge, the bound electron number and the ionization state of the ion. Also, we compare the analytical effective potential proposed in this paper with other ones very well known in the available literature.     

Evolution of the density profiles and flows of charged particles during the diffusive decay of an electronegative gas plasma

Different scenarios of the spatiotemporal evolution of the parameters of the diffusive decay of a pulsed electronegative gas plasma in the absence of plasma chemical processes are studied. It is shown that nonlinear diffusion in a plasma with negative ions occurs in several stages. The rate of electron density decay increases with time and, in the beginning of the second stage, almost all the electrons escape from the discharge volume. On the other hand, the ion density profile is smoothed out due to ion-ion ambipolar diffusion and the flow of negative ions toward the wall is absent in the first stage of decay. In the second stage, the main diffusion mode is first established and then the ion-ion (electronless) plasma decays exponentially with a characteristic time determined by ion-ion ambipolar diffusion.     

Elastic properties,Debye temperature,density of states and electron–phonon coupling of ZrB12 under pressure

The structural parameters, elastic constants and the electronic density of states of ZrB₁₂ under pressure are determined using first-principles calculations with plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory, within the generalized gradient approximation. From the elastic constants the elastic parameters and Debye temperature were calculated. They increase as the pressure is increased. The density of states at the Fermi level decreases as pressure is increased, changing from 0.576 to 0.515. Using the Debye temperature and the McMillan equation, the electron–phonon coupling constant was obtained as a function of pressure. It is found that the electron–phonon coupling constant is proportional to the logarithm of the ratio between the value of the Debye temperature and the value of the superconducting critical temperature.     

On the Kinetics of the Active Zone of the Stationary SF6 Beam Discharge Plasma

The paper deals with the impact of intensive electron attachment on the kinetics of the electrons in the active zone of the stationary band-like beam discharge plasma in SF₆ which is an alternative useful plasma medium for “dry etching”. The energy distribution of the electrons in this plasma was obtained by numerically solving the Boltzmann equation which includes apart from elastic collisions, different exciting collision processes, attachment in electron collisions, direct ionization, the ambipolar loss of electrons, Coulomb interaction between electrons and of electrons with ions and the power input to the electrons by the turbulent electric field. In particular, due to the needed fulfilment of the consistent electron particle balance, for an extended region of the turbulence energy density in this plasma a large impact on the electron kinetics of the intensive electron attachment, which is the prevailing electron loss process, was found enforcing independent of the turbulence energy density always a large power input to the electrons, smooth and only slowly decreasing energy distributions even in the energy region of direct ionization.     

类氦离子的电子碰撞电离微分截面

本文主要利用扭曲波玻恩交换近似方法(DBE)计算类氦离子在电子碰撞下,相应不同的末态电子能量分配的电离截面(能量微分截面)。发现对这些微分截面在不同靶电荷及入射能量下,都可用带两个参数的高斯函数αexp(β(x—0.5)²)很好地拟合。还给出两个拟合参数随靶电荷和入射能量的变化曲线,以及讨论了在库仑波玻恩交换近似(CBE)和DBE两种不同近似下所得参数值的差别。计算结果也表阴,在低靶电荷和低入射能量时用DBE计算的必要性。 关键词：     

On the charge of dust particles in a low-pressure gas discharge plasma

Self-consistent molecular-dynamics calculations of the charge of micron-size particles in a low-pressure gas-discharge plasma are performed. It is shown that charge exchange of ions on neutrals starts to affect the charge of dust particles at pressures corresponding to ion mean free paths much greater than the Debye radius. The computational results show that the potential of a particle depends nonmonotonically on the pressure and on the particle size.     

Role of ions in a crossed-field diode

The effect of ions in a magnetically insulated crossed-field gap is studied using a single particle orbit model, shear flow model, and particle-in-cell simulation. It is found that, in general, the presence of ions in a crossed-field gap always increases the electrons' excursion toward the anode region, regardless of the location of the ions. Thus, the rate at which the electrons migrate toward the anode, which is a measure of the diode closure rate, is related to the rate at which ions are introduced into the crossed-field gap. This anode migration of electrons is unrelated to crossed-field ambipolar diffusion. The implications of these findings are explored, such as pulse shortening in relativistic magnetrons and bipolar flows in pulsed-power systems.     

Dusty photoresonant plasma with coulomb collisions

We have studied the charging of dust particles in a dense photoresonant sodium plasma with electron and ion densities as high as 10¹⁶ cm^?3 produced by laser pumping of the resonance level of Na, which was a small admixture (up to 1%) in an argon buffer gas. We show that the charge of dust particles with a radius of 10 mm at maximum reaches 3 × 10⁵ electron charges and that the potential of the dust particles at a low electron bulk loss rate agrees well with the orbital motion limited (OML) model data. The behavior of the electric field near a dust particle was found to be nonmonotonic. We established that the distribution of the potential near a solitary charged dust particle agrees well with the Debye one, but the screening length proves to be much larger than even the electron Debye length; the discrepancies are largest at the afterglow stage of the photoresonant plasma, when the sodium ion with a low recombination coefficient is the main plasma ion. We determined the domain of parameters for a dense plasma where an ensemble of dust particles can crystallize.