尘埃颗粒与等离子体鞘层相互作用的数值模拟

通过求解一维稳态的尘埃等离子体鞘层模型,得到了等离子体鞘层势、正离子密度、电子密度和尘埃颗粒密度随一维横向的分布,Bohm判据及鞘层边界无量纲Bohm速度随尘埃密度的变化曲线,尘埃颗粒的带电量和尘埃密度的关系,尘埃颗粒的温度对尘埃颗粒自身在鞘层中分布的影响。结果表明,随着尘埃密度的增加,鞘层的厚度在减小,鞘层内的电子密度在下降,而且尘埃颗粒的带电量也在逐渐减少;随着尘埃温度的增加,鞘层的厚度减小,电子密度下降,而且鞘层附近的尘埃颗粒在逐渐增多。     

Plasma-sheath transition in the magnetized plasma-wall problem for collisionless ions

A model for the collisionless plasma-wall problem under the action of an applied magnetic field is developed. The behavior of its solution is examined and found to be qualitatively consistent with experiment. The plasma and the sheath are then modeled separately to obtain the position of the quasi-neutral plasma boundary and the position of the edge of the electron-free sheath. It is shown that the plasma boundary can be specified as the point where the component of the ion velocity normal to the wall reaches the ion sound speed (Bohm criterion), and the sheath edge is specified as the point corresponding to Godyak's condition for the electric field. Studying the behavior near the plasma boundary and the sheath edge, the plasma solution and the solution of the space charge region are patched together to approximate the solution of the plasma-wall problem.     

Advanced targets,diagnostics and applications of laser-generated plasmas

High-intensity sub-nanosecond-pulsed lasers irradiating thin targets in vacuum permit generation of electrons and ion acceleration and high photon yield emission in non-equilibrium plasmas. At intensities higher than 10¹⁵?W/cm² thin foils can be irradiated in the target-normal sheath acceleration regime driving ion acceleration in the forward direction above 1?MeV per charge state. The distributions of emitted ions in terms of energy, charge state and angular emission are controlled by laser parameters, irradiation conditions, target geometry and composition. Advanced targets can be employed to increase the laser absorption in thin foils and to enhance the energy and the yield of the ion acceleration process. Semiconductor detectors, Thomson parabola spectrometer and streak camera can be employed as online plasma diagnostics to monitor the plasma parameters, shot by shot. Some applications in the field of the multiple ion implantation, hadrontherapy and nuclear physics are reported.     

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     

Sheath thickness evaluation for collisionless or weakly collisionalbounded plasmas

The widely used Child-Langmuir law for sheath thickness evaluation in semi-infinite collisionless plasmas makes the assumptions of quasi-neutrality (n_e=n_i) and zero electric field intensity E=0 at the sheath edge, as well as applying the Bohm criterion for ions entering the sheath. However, through a whole region fluid model, Poisson's equation has been solved numerically for the steady-state solution through the sheath and presheath without these assumptions. With the sheath edge defined, as in the Child-Langmuir law, at the place where the ion velocity is equal to the Bohm velocity, the sheath thickness of a bounded collisionless or weakly collisional plasma has been found with this model in some cases to be much larger than that obtained with the Child-Langmuir Law. The sheath thickness discrepancy is significant under conditions found in low pressure high density plasma (HDP) tools for plasma processing. Results presented indicate that the sheath thickness is very sensitive to the electric field and space charge density at the sheath edge. The electric field and space charge density can be successfully estimated by an intermediate scale matching method, and are used to derive a modified expression for the potential in the sheath that can be solved numerically for sheath thickness. With these results, the matching problem, arising when sheath and plasma are modeled separately, can be overcome     

Microparticles in a collisional Rf plasma sheath under hypergravity conditions as probes for the electric field strength and the particle charge

We used microparticles under hypergravity conditions, induced by a centrifuge, in order to measure nonintrusively and spatially resolved the electric field strength as well as the particle charge in the collisional rf plasma sheath. The measured electric field strengths demonstrate good agreement with the literature, while the particle charge shows decreasing values towards the electrode. We demonstrate that it is indeed possible to measure these important quantities without changing or disturbing the plasma.     

Levitation and dynamics of a collection of dust particles in afully ionized plasma sheath

Examines the dynamics of a collection of charged dust particles in the plasma sheath above a large body in a fully ionized space plasma when the radius of the large body is much larger than the sheath thickness. The dust particles are charged by the plasma, and the forces on the dust particles are assumed to be from the electric field in the sheath and from gravitation only. These forces will often act in opposite directions and may balance, making dust suspension and collection possible. The dust particles are supplied by injection or by electrostatic levitation. The ability of the sheath to collect dust particles, will be optimal for a certain combination of gravitation and plasma and dust particle parameters. In a dense dust sheath, the charges on the dust particles contribute significantly to the total space charge, and collective effects become important. These effects will reduce the magnitude of the sheath electric field strength and the charge on the dust particles. As dust particles are collected, the dust sheath is stretched and the largest dust particles may drop out, because the sheath is no longer able to suspend them. In a tenuous dust sheath, the inner layer, from the surface and about one Debye length thick, will be unstable for dust particle motion, and dust will not collect there. In a dense dust sheath, collective effects will decrease the thickness of this inner dust-free layer, making dust collection closer to the surface possible. By linearization of the force and current equations, the necessary and sufficient conditions for a stable dust sheath are found. The authors consider conditions which resemble those of planetary system bodies, but the results may also be of relevance to some laboratory plasmas     

Self-consistent nonlinear resonance and hysteresis of a charged microparticle in a RF sheath

A self-consistent model is proposed to study nonlinear phenomena, such as secondary resonance and hysteresis in the vertical oscillations of a charged microparticle in a radio-frequency sheath. The motion of a single microparticle in the sheath is simulated by solving Newton's equation in which various forces acting on the particle are taken into account. The particle charging and the sheath electric field are described by a self-consistent model of the collisional radio-frequency sheath dynamics. It is found that the nonlinearity is related to the particle's charge, the sheath electric field, and the external excitation force, as well as the ion drag force and neutral-gas friction on the particle.     

Charged dust grain acceleration in tokamak edges

It is shown that the force associated with the normal component of the space charge electric field at the plasma surface, arising from the charge separation, can accelerate a charged dust particle that is sitting in the scrape-off layer (SOL) close to the chamber walls in tokamaks. The acceleration of dust particle is found to be proportional to the strength of the space charge electric field and inversely proportional to the square root of the dust mass density.     

Plasma acceleration by area expansion

As the area of a plasma increases, the plasma can accelerate smoothly from subsonic to supersonic velocity. The singularity which ordinarily occurs at the sonic velocity is resolved not by charge separation, as is the case for a sheath, but rather by a zero in the numerator at the same spatial position as the zero in the denominator, the sonic point. That is, at the sonic point, the acceleration due to expansion just cancels out the deceleration due to ion and electron neutral collisions. It turns out that, in this configuration, the plasma can accelerate to about three times the ion sound speed. The electron temperature is determined by the geometry, gas species, and, mostly, by the gas pressure. Applications to the production of a stream of neutrals for etching, and to space plasma propulsion are discussed     

Numerical modeling of low-pressure RF plasmas

A particle-in-cell simulation is used to model the plasma generated in a parallel plate RF reactor at low pressure. Nonperiodic boundary conditions are used, and the electric field and particle motion are obtained by finite-difference methods leading to the self-consistent creation of sheaths on the boundaries. Model cross sections are used to describe collisions between particles. Ionization is included, and the plasma is maintained by fast electrons generated in the RF sheaths. Most of the power dissipation is due to the acceleration of ions in the time-average sheath fields. At high applied voltage, the power dissipation is described well by the power law P∝V^5/2. Simple scaling laws for the density and plasma potential are obtained. The effect of ion mass and charge-exchange colisions on the ion energy spectrum collected by the electrodes is examined. The ion loss rate drops in the presence of charge-exchange collisions, and this leads to an increase in the density. The collisions also markedly alter the ion energy distribution function     

Investigation of the effect of plasma waves excitation on target normal sheath ion acceleration using fs laser‐irradiating hydrogenated structures

Measurements of ion acceleration in polymethylmethacrylate foils covered by a thin copper film irradiated by fs laser in target normal sheath acceleration regime are presented. The ion acceleration depends on the laser parameters, such as the pulse energy; depends on the irradiation conditions, such as the focal point position of the laser with respect to the target surface; and depends on the target properties, such as the metallic film thickness. The proton acceleration increases in the presence of the metallic film enhancing the plasma electron density, reaching about 1.6 MeV energy for a focal position on the target surface. The plasma diagnostics uses SiC detectors, absorber foils, Faraday cups, and gafchromic films. Employing p‐polarized laser light and a suitable oblique incidence, it is possible to increase the proton acceleration up to about 2.0 MeV thanks to the effects of laser absorption resonance due to plasma waves excitation.     

Dust charging and levitating in a sheath of plasma containing energetic particles

The structure of the sheath in the presence of energetic particles is investigated in the multi-fluid framework. Based on the orbital motion limited(OML) theory, the dust grain charging inside the sheath of plasma containing energetic particles is examined for the carbon wall, and then the effect of the energetic particles on the stationary dust particle inside the sheath is discussed through the trapping potential energy. It is found that with the increase of energetic ion concentration or energy,the size of dust staying in levitation equilibrium decreases and the levitating position is much closer to the wall. In the case of deuterium ions as energetic ions, the bigger dust particle can be trapped by the sheath than in the case of hydrogen ions as energetic ions. When the energetic electron component is present, the levitating position of dust particle in the sheath depends strongly on the energetic electron. The levitating dust particle is closer to the wall as the energetic electron energy or concentration is increased. In addition, with the increase of temperature of thermal background ion, the size of dust particle trapped by the sheath decreases and the levitating positions of dust particles with the same size radius inside the sheath move toward the wall. Our results can be helpful in investigating the property of the sheath where the energetic particle component is present.     

强激光与稠密等离子体作用引起的冲击波加速离子的研究

用二维PIC（Particle-in-Cell）程序模拟研究了强激光与稠密等离子体靶作用产生的无碰撞静电冲击波的结构和这种冲击波对离子的加速过程,研究发现由于冲击波前沿附近的双极电场的作用,具有一定初速度的离子能被该双极场俘获并获得加速,最终能够被加速到两倍冲击波速度.冲击波加速可以得到准单能的离子能谱,叠加在通过鞘层加速机理产生的宽度离子能谱上.还对不同激光强度和不同等离子体密度情况下形成的冲击波进行了比较.研究表明,强度相对较低的激光在高密度等离子体中可以产生以一定速度传播的静电孤波结构,后者只能加速 关键词： 强激光 稠密等离子体 无碰撞静电冲击波 离子加速     

Ion acceleration by the space charge electric force arising from the radiation pressure in a magnetized electron–positron plasma

It is shown that ions can be accelerated by the space charge electric force arising from the separation of electrons and positrons due to the ponderomotive force of the magnetic field-aligned circularly polarized electromagnetic (CPEM) wave in a magnetized electron–positron–ion plasma. The ion acceleration critically depends on the external magnetic field strength. The result is useful in understanding differential ion acceleration in magnetized electron–positron–ion plasmas, such as those in magnetars and in some laboratory experiments that aim to mimic astrophysical environments.     

Cold electrons acceleration in TNSA laser-generated plasma using a low-contrast fs laser

The fs laser facility in Bordeaux, delivering an intensity of 10¹⁸ W/cm² at normal incidence on thin foils, has been used to induce forward electron and ion acceleration in target-normal-sheath-acceleration (TNSA) regime. Micrometric thin foils with different composition, thickness, and electron density, were prepared to promote the charge particle acceleration in the forward direction. The plasma electron and ion emission monitoring were performed on-line using SiC semiconductor detectors in time-of-flight (TOF) configuration and gaf-chromics films both covered by thin absorber filters. The experiment has permitted to accelerate electrons and protons. A special attention was placed to detect relativistic hot electrons escaping from the plasma and cold electrons returning to the target position. The electron energies of the order of 100 keV and of about 1 keV were detected as representative of hot and cold electrons, respectively. A high cold electron contribution was measured using low-contrast fs laser, while it is less evident using high-contrast fs lasers. The charge particle acceleration depends on the laser parameters, irradiation conditions, and target properties, as will be presented and discussed.     

具有非广延分布电子的碰撞等离子体磁鞘的结构

很多关于等离子体鞘层的研究工作都是基于电子满足经典的麦克斯韦速度分布函数,而等离子体中的粒子具有长程电磁相互作用,使用Tsallis提出的非广延分布来描述电子更为恰当.本文建立一个具有非广延分布电子的碰撞等离子体磁鞘模型,理论推导出受非广延参数q影响的玻姆判据,离子马赫数的下限数值会随着参数q的增大而减小.经过数值模拟,发现与具有麦克斯韦分布(q=1)电子的碰撞等离子体磁鞘对比,具有超广延分布(q<1)和亚广延分布(q>1)电子的碰撞等离子体磁鞘的结构各有不同,包括空间电势分布、离子电子密度分布、空间电荷密度分布.模拟结果显示非广延分布的参数q对碰撞等离子体磁鞘的结构具有不可忽略的影响.希望这些结论对相关的天体物理、等离子体边界问题的研究有参考价值.     

Investigations on ionic processes and dynamics in the sheath region of helium and hydrogen discharges by laser spectroscopic electric field measurements

Temporally and spatially resolved measurements of the electric field distribution in the sheath region of RF and dc discharges provide a detailed insight into the sheath and ion dynamics. The electric field is directly related to the sheath ion and electron densities, the sheath voltage, and the displacement current density. Under certain assumptions also the electron and ion conduction current densities at the electrode, the ion current density into the sheath from the plasma bulk, the ion energy distribution function, and the power dissipated in the discharge can be inferred. Furthermore, the electric field distribution can give an indication of the collision-induced conversion between different ion species in the sheath. Laser spectroscopic techniques allow the noninvasive in situ measurement of the electric field with high spatial and temporal resolution. These techniques are based on the spectroscopic measurement of the Stark splitting of Rydberg states of helium and hydrogen atoms. Two alternative techniques are applied to RF discharges at 13.56 MHz in helium and hydrogen and a pulsed dc discharge in hydrogen. The measured electric field profiles are analyzed, and the results discussed with respect to the ion densities, currents, energies, temporal dynamics and species composition. Received: 26 July 2000 / Accepted: 12 December 2000 / Published online: 3 April 2001     

脉冲偏压上升沿特性对等离子体浸没离子注入鞘层扩展动力学的影响

等离子体浸没离子注入(PIII)是用于材料表面改性的一种廉价高效、非视线的技术.采用等离子体粒子模型，通过假设电子密度服从Boltzmann分布，求解Poisson方程和Newton方程，跟踪离子在等离子体鞘层中的运动形态及特性并进行统计分析，研究了不同上升速率和形状的6种波形上升沿对鞘层时空演化、离子注入能量和剂量的影响.结果表明，在PIII过程中，脉冲上升沿影响了等离子体鞘层的扩展，且不同波形诱导的鞘层厚度间存在最大差值.电场强度在鞘层的外边缘区域存在陡降区，离子的运动为非匀加速过程.可以通过调整脉冲 关键词： 等离子体浸没离子注入 鞘层 粒子模型 上升沿     

Structure of the charged sheath at the plasma-charged body boundary

Based on a hydrodynamic plasma model that incorporates the inertia and temperatures of the plasma components, we have analytically and numerically solved the problem on the structure of the charged sheath at the plasma-charged body boundary. We formulate a criterion for the existence of a stationary charged sheath at the plasma-charged body boundary for both charge signs and with allowance made for the inertia and temperatures of the charged plasma components. We determine the minimum and maximum electric potentials and densities of the charged plasma components in the sheath. We show that the charge profile in the sheath can form a double-layer structure in which the ion-depleted and electron-depleted sublayers are adjacent to the plasma and the charged body, respectively, with the electric potential in the sheath remaining monotonic.