Pulsed population inversion in recombination of positive metal ions with negative ions of sulfur,selenium, and tellurium

Ion-ion recombination of positive ions of 14 metals with negative ions of sulfur, selenium, and tellurium is considered. The energy levels of metal atoms predominantly populated in the process of ion-ion recombination are estimated. The possibility of creating the population inversion in the afterglow of a pulsed discharge on some atomic transitions is discussed along with realization of noncoherent sources of radiation.     

Resistive Electrostatic Ion Cyclotron Instability in Plasmas

The stability of electrostatic ion cyclotron waves propagating obliquely with respect to the background magnetic field is studied for collisional, fully-ionized plasmas in which there is a relative field-aligned streaming between electrons and ions. It is found that electron-ion collisions, in conjunction with electron streaming, provides a mechanism for instability. The role of electron streaming is to supply a source of free energy and the role of electron-ion collisions is to restrict the field-aligned mobility of the electrons, thus preventing them from establishing a Boltzmann equilibrium. Ion-ion collisions and finite ion Larmor radius are found to exert a stabilizing influence. The instability is analyzed for both current-carrying plasmas and counterstreaming-beam-plasma systems.     

离子振荡对低压脉冲负电性放电条件的影响

为了研究该离子振荡及其对低气压负电性放电自持条件的影响，建立了一个整体模型描述低气压正负离子等离子体中离子振荡与少量电子的相互作用. 在模型中引入参数r描述电子流体与电极碰撞后的动量保存(或损失)的程度. 发现体系存在一个临界值r=r_c,它导致了两种不同性质的电子损失机理. 另一临界值r=4r_c决定了两种不同的电子密度随时间增长的阈值. 这使得该阈值随r非单调变化, 进而导致RF负电性脉冲放电主动放电阶段初期的自持放电条件参数空间中可以存在间隙. PIC-MCC 关键词： 负电性放电 脉冲放电 离子振荡     

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.     

Sheath characteristics in plasma carrying finite mass negative ions and ionization at low frequency

The sheath characteristics are investigated in a collisional environment by considering three electronegative plasmas, namely CF₄, Oxygen, and C₆₀ plasmas. Specifically, positive ion velocity, electrostatic potential, charged species densities and net space charged density are examined inside the sheath region with the variation of collisional parameter, mass ratio of negative to positive ions, temperature ratios of electrons to positive ions and electrons to negative ions, non-neutrality parameter and negative ion density. Collisional cross-section is assumed to have a power-law dependence, and both the cases of constant mobility and constant collisional cross-section are discussed and compared. In order to introduce the concept of finite mass of negative ions, both kinds of ions are considered to be governed by their fluid equations, where contribution of ionization, attachment, and detachment is also taken through the continuity equations.     

A particle-in-cell simulation of dust charging and shielding in lowpressure glow discharges

The transport of particles (“dust”) in low pressure electrical glow discharges is being studied in regard to its role in contaminating silicon wafers during plasma etching and deposition. Particles (10 s nm-μm) negatively charge in glow discharges and, to first order, appear to be massively large negative ions around which sheaths develop. The forces on particles in plasmas include electrostatic (drift of charged particles in electric fields) and viscous ion drag. The latter force is momentum transfer from ions to particles by either collisions or orbital motion. This force critically depends on the charge on the particle and the shape of the sheath surrounding the particle. In this work, we report on a pseudoparticle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of the transport of electrons and ions in the vicinity of dust particles in low pressure glow discharges. The simulation produces the electrical charge on the dust particle, the sheath structure around the dust particle and the orbital dynamics of the ions. A companion molecular dynamics simulation uses these parameters to produce ion-dust and electron-dust particle cross sections for momentum transfer and collection. Results will be discussed for charge, sheath thickness, cross sections and viscous ion drag forces on dust particles as a function of radius and plasma parameters     

Electrostatic double layers in a warm negative ion plasma with nonextensive electrons

The electrostatic double layer (DL) structures are studied in negative ion plasma with nonextensive electrons q-distribution. The extended Korteweg–de Vries (EKdV) equation is derived using a reductive perturbation method. It is found that both fast (compressive) and slow (rarefactive) ion acoustic (IA) DLs can propagate in such type of plasmas. The effects of various plasma physical parameters; such as nonextensivity of electrons, presence of negative ions, temperature of both positive and negative ions and different mass ratios of positive to negative ions on the formation of DL structures are discussed in detail with numerical illustrations.     

Lower hybrid waves in plasmas with negative ions

The ion-ion hybrid mode, with frequencies ω≈(ω_c+ω_c-)^1/2, is briefly analyzed for a warm plasma containing positive ions (gyrofrequency ω_c+), negative ions (gyrofrequency ω_c-), and electrons. Experiments with SF₆ ^- as the negative ion are proposed     

Observation of Runaway Electron Behaviour During Disruptions in LHCD Discharges in the HT‐7 Tokamak

Production of runaway electrons during disruptions has been observed in the HT‐7 Tokamak. The runaway current plateaus, which can carry part of the pre‐disruptive current, are observed in lower‐hybrid current drive (LHCD) limiter discharges. It is found that the runaway current can mitigate the disruptions effectively. We can use gas puffing to increase the line‐averaged density to restrain the runaway electrons and rebuild the plasmas after the disruptions. Detailed observations are presented on the runaway electrons generated following disruptions in the HT‐7 tokamak discharges. The results indicate that the magnetic oscillations play a significant role in the loss of runaway electrons in disruptions. There are two important preconditions to rebuild plasmas by runaway electrons after the disruptions. One of them are weak magnetic oscillations; another one are LHWs (lower‐hybrid waves) (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Electrostatic Double Layers in a Multicomponent Drifting Plasma Having Nonthermal Electrons

The pseudopotential technique is applied to a multicomponent plasma consisting of nonthermal electrons and warm positive and negative ions with drift motion with a view to studying ion-acoustic double layers. Conditions for the existence of such layers are obtained, two critical concentrations of negative ions being identified which control the formation and nature of the ion-acoustic double layers. The effects of nonthermal electrons, negative-ion concentration, and negative-ion temperature on the double layer formation and structure are also investigated. The nonthermal electrons and the negative ions are shown to contribute significantly to the excitation and structure of the double layers. The importance of the results in the context of magnetospheric and auroral plasmas is discussed.     

Production of Negative Ion-Rich Plasma by Electron Attachment in Low Pressure Gases

The scope of this research is to investigate experimentally electron (ne), negative ion (n-) and positive ion (n+) densities characterizing laboratory negative ion-rich plasmas, produced by electron attachment in N2O3, O2 and I2, and to find out the factors limiting the achievement of very low ? (relative electron density ? = ne/n+). These plasmas may be of great interest for the production of negative ion beams. It is shown experimentally that it is possible to produce plasmas with a high proportion of negative ions (n-/n+ ? 90 %) and a low proportion of electrons, at densities n+ up to 1011 cm-3. The comparison of mass spectrometric data with kinetic calculations leads to the conclusion that the loss of negative ions by diffusion limits the lowest ? achieved at low ion density (n+ < 109 cm-3). At higher ion density, mutual neutralization seems to control the ? values. A general limitation seems to exist for the lowest ? attainable in small plasmas produced by electron attachment : the confinement of negative ions in a plasma is due to the presence of electrons and therefore this confinement becomes inefficient when ? drops to values as low as 10-3.     

Possible ionic systems for the development of a pulsed laser on the basis of ion-ion recombination: II. Recombination with oxygen, sulfur, selenium, and tellurium negative ions

Pairs of positive and negative ions, which can be used for the creation of a pulsed ion-ion recombination laser, are considered. Pairs for recombination with negative ions in which the electron affinity is lower than in halogens are analyzed. Such a choice ensures a significant increase in the number of working atoms and allows the consideration of new ways to obtain the inversion in the process of ion-ion recombination.     

Cross-Sections,Rate Constants and Transport Coefficients in Silane Plasma Chemistry

This paper presents a critical review of the basic data concerning the physics and chemistry of low pressure SiH₄ glow discharges used to deposit hydrogenated amorphous silicon films (a-Si:H). Starting with an updated table of thermochemical data, we analyze the gas-phase elementary processes consisting of i) electron-molecule collisions, ii) ion-molecule collisions, iii) neutral-neutral collisions, iv) other electron and ion collisions involving electron-ion and ion-ion recombination, electron attachment on radicals and detachment of anions, and v) cluster growth kinetics in dusty plasmas. Experimental data or theoretical estimates are given and discussed in terms of cross-sections, collision and reaction rate constants, and transport coefficients. We also analyze the surface processes and reaction probabilities of ions, radicals and molecules.     

Negative Ion Kinetics in RF Glow Discharges

Using temporally and spatially resolved laser spectroscopy, we have determined the identities, approximate concentrations, effects on the local field, and kinetics of formation and loss of negative ions in RF discharges. Cl- and BCl3- are the dominant negative ions found in low-frequency discharges through Cl2 and BCl3, respectively. The electron affinity for Cl is measured to be 3.6118 ± 0.0005 eV. Negative ion kinetics are strongly affected by application of the RF field. Formation of negative ions by attachment of slow electrons in RF discharges is governed by the extent and duration of electron energy relaxation. Similarly, destruction of negative ions by collisional detachment and field extraction is dependent upon ion energy modulation. Thus, at low frequency, the anion density peaks at the beginning of the anodic and cathodic half-cycles after electrons have attached but before detachment and extraction have had time to occur. At higher frequencies, electrons have insufficient time to attach before they are reheated and the instantaneous anion density in the sheath is greatly reduced. When the negative ion density is comparable to the positive ion density, the plasma potential is observed to lie below the anode potential, double layers form between sheath and plasma, and anions and electrons are accelerated by large sheath fields to electrode surfaces.     

The effect of negative ions on the dust acoustic wave in dusty electronegative plasma with positively charged dust grains

The effect of negative ions on the modulational instability properties of nonlinear dust acoustic (DA) waves in the electronegative dusty plasmas was investigated by considering Boltzmann-distributed electrons, negative ions, positive ions as well as positively charged dust grain under the ultraviolet irradiation. It is shown that the modulational instability properties of the DA waves were strongly affected by the temperature and proportion of negative ions. The modulational instability can occur only if the proportion of negative ions was smaller than critical value. The instability growth rate has a maximum value when the proportion of negative ions was a critical one in the unstable region. The effect of photoelectron generated by ultraviolet irradiation on the modulational instability of dust acoustic waves was also discussed by numerical method.     

Nonlinear dust-ion-acoustic waves in a multi-ion plasma with trapped electrons

A dusty multi-ion plasma system consisting of non-isothermal (trapped) electrons, Maxwellian (isothermal) light positive ions, warm heavy negative ions and extremely massive charge fluctuating stationary dust have been considered. The dust-ion-acoustic solitary and shock waves associated with negative ion dynamics, Maxwellian (isothermal) positive ions, trapped electrons and charge fluctuating stationary dust have been investigated by employing the reductive perturbation method. The basic features of such dust-ion-acoustic solitary and shock waves have been identified. The implications of our findings in space and laboratory dusty multi-ion plasmas are discussed.     

Possible ionic systems for the development of a pulsed laser on the basis of ion-ion recombination: I. Recombination with negative halogen ions

Possible pairs of positive and negative ions for development of a pulsed laser based on ion-ion recombination with participation of negative halogen ions are considered. The most appropriate pairs of ions are indicated. The effect of additional kinetic energy of the atoms formed during the ion-ion recombination is discussed.     

Geschwindigkeitsverteilungsfunktionen von Atomen und Ionen in verschiedenen Anregungs- und Ionisationsstufen in Niederdruck-Entladungen bei hohem Ionisationsgrad

Supposing free-fall conditions the velocity distribution functions of atoms and ions in various levels in gas discharges at low pressures are calculated. In particular, plasmas at high degrees of ionization are considered. Solving the Boltzmann equation for the motions transverse to the wall of the discharge tube it is shown that the velocity distribution functions can considerably deviate from the Maxwellian and become non-isotropic. Inelastic collisions with electrons and the ionization by electron impacts considerably determine the velocity distribution function of the neutral atoms. The velocity distribution function of the ions is also essentially determined by the electric field within the plasma. For the motions transverse to the wall the half widths of the velocity distribution functions do not only depend on the temperature of the wall, but on the electron density and on the electron temperature as well. At small electron densities the half widths for excited atoms and for ions can be narrower than the one for the ground state atoms. The charge exchange between atoms and ions is shortly taken into consideration.     

Vibrationally mediated negative differential resistance in a single molecule

Negative ion density fronts have been shown to occur in electronegative steady-state plasmas with hot electrons. In this Letter, we report theoretical and numerical results on the spatiotemporal evolution of negative ion density fronts during plasma ignition and extinction (afterglow). During plasma ignition, the negative ion fronts are analogous to hydrodynamic shocks. This is not the case during plasma extinction where, although negative ions diffuse freely in the plasma core, the negative ion front propagates towards the chamber walls with a nearly constant velocity.