Langmuir Probe in Non‐Maxwellian Plasma: Correlation Between the Electron Energy Distribution Function,the Ion Energy at the Sheath Edge and the Floating Voltage

This work is devoted to the study of the Langmuir probe in non‐Maxwellian plasma, assuming mono‐energetic singly charged ions and a collisionless sheath. Using a general analytical equation for the Electron Energy Distribution Function (EEDF), we study the effect of the EEDF profile on: a) The ion energy at the sheath edge of a negatively biased collector, b) the I‐V probe characteristic and c) the floating voltage (V_p‐Vf). Different methods are used and compared to determine these parameters or characteristics. A correlation is given between the floating voltage, the ion energy at the sheath edge and the EEDF profile. The study is also extended to distribution functions with several components. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Comments on the Bohm Criterion and on the Determination of the Ion Velocity at the Sheath Edge in Non‐Maxwellian Plasma

This work is devoted to the study of the Bohm criterion in the general case of the electron energy distribution function (EEDF). Investigations are performed by means of a Monte Carlo integration method. We resolve the cold fluid equation system describing the ion motion within the sheath, assuming collisionless conditions, singly charged and mono kinetic incoming ions (BOHM model). Results confirm that the limit ion velocity at the sheath edge to assure a monotone electric field with a positive charge over the entire sheath is v_i ≥ (kT_e/M_i) or ε_i ≥ 1/3 <ε_e> in the case of Maxwellian electrons. We show that in the case of a Druyvesteyn electron energy distribution, this limit is larger, it is ε_i ≥ 0.6 <ε_e>. The study is also extended to other distributions functions. Because of the large controversy in recent publications, concerning the boundary conditions at the sheath entrance, we discuss the collisionless conditions at the sheath edge according to the plasma parameters. It is shown that in a collisionless sheath, the condition n_i(χ) ≥ n_e(χ) can be used to determine the limit ion velocity at the sheath edge of the negatively biased collector (Langmuir probe for instance) (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Comparison of hexamethyldisiloxane dissociation processes in plasma

Different hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) dissociation processes are investigated by means of absorption spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. All of these processes are expected to occur in plasma containing Ar-HMDSO gas mixture. We successively study interactions of the HMDSO molecule with electrons (energy ranges from 15 to 70 eV), with Ar((3)P(2)) metastable species (internal energy 11.55 eV) and with VUV photon (7.3 to 10.79 eV). The studies of HMDSO interactions with Ar((3)P(2)) and VUV photon provide new results concerning the dissociation pathways and the collision cross-sections. In the case of Ar((3)P(2)), the dissociation mechanisms result mainly in Si-C or Si-O bond breaking, producing SiMe(2,1) radicals. Less efficient mechanisms involve also Si-C and Si-O bond breaking producing Me, Si(2)Me(5)O, or SiMe(3), on one hand, and, on the other hand, Si-C and C-H bond breaking producing Si(2)Me(4)OH. In the case of photon interaction, the dissociation process is more selective and mainly produces Si(2)OMe(5) pentadisiloxane and methyl radicals due to Si-C bond breaking. Si-O bond breaking produces also SiMe(3) in a lower concentration. Dissociation cross-section values of HMDSO ranging from σ = 45 × 10(-20) m(2) to 180 × 10(-20) m(2) and from σ = 0.7 × 10(-22) m(2) to 18.3 × 10(-22) m(2), correspond to a global dissociation mechanism by Ar((3)P(2)) collision and to a selective dissociation mechanism (producing Si(2)OMe(5) and Me) by VUV photon interaction, respectively. All results are compared and discussed.     

Deposition of silicon nitride thin films by reaction of SiH4 in a nitrogen post-discharge

Silicon nitride thin films are deposited on silicon wafers at room temperature when silane gas is injected in a nitrogen flowing post-discharge. Reactive processes involving siane molecules and long-lifetime nitrogen species are studied, pointing out the nonreactivity of the N₂(A³ _u ⁺ ) metastable state, the low contribution of the vibrationally excited nitrogen ground-state molecules, and the high reactivity of N(⁴S) atoms. Spectroscopic observations performed in the reaction region are correlated with thin-film characteristics.     

Kinetics of chemically mediated neurodegeneration/neuroregeneration of mouse olfactory epithelium: monitoring by hyperlayer sedimentation field flow fractionation

The increase in the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases linked to aging or injury needs to be addressed in research into neuroprotective or neuroregenerative therapies, and requires the development of specific biological models. To achieve this goal we propose (1) the use of the mouse olfactory epithelium as a biological support which specifically exhibits a regenerative or a self-renewing capacity and during the lifetime necessitates the presence of neural stem cells, and (2) the use of an intraperitoneal injection of 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile (diclobenil) as a chemical inducer of neurodegeneration in olfactory epithelium by selectively killing mature cells. We developed a biological model to follow the processes of neurodegeneration (chemically induced) and neuroregeneration (self-renewal of olfactory epithelium). The purpose of this study was to develop a method to monitor quickly neurodegeneration/neuroregeneration processes in order to further screen protective and regenerative therapies. For this purpose, we used the sedimentation field flow fractionation elution of olfactory epithelium. We obtained specific elution profiles and retention parameters allowing the monitoring of the induction and kinetics of biological processes. The use of insulin-like growth factor 1α as a neuroprotective agent in an innovative nebulization protocol showed sedimentation field flow fractionation to be a simple, fast and low-cost method to monitor such a biological event on the scale of an entire organism.

Numerical differentiation with noisy signal

The aim of this paper is to present a new numerical method, which ables one to filter and compute numerical derivatives of a function whose values are known in some points from experimental measurements, inducing noisy data. We use a piecewise cubic spline interpolation to generate a function whose Fourier coefficients give an approximation of the numerical derivatives we are looking for. Error and stability analysis of this numerical algorithm are provided. Numerical results are presented for data smoothing and for the first and second derivatives computed from noisy data. They show that this method gives good numerical results. Comparison with other methods is done.     

Numerical Approaches to Compute Spectra of Non-Self Adjoint Operators and Quadratic Pencils

In this article we are interested in the numerical computation of spectra of non-self adjoint quadratic operators. This leads to solve nonlinear eigenvalue problems. We begin with a review of theoretical results for the spectra of quadratic operators, especially for the Schrödinger pencils. Then we present the numerical methods developed to compute the spectra: spectral methods and finite difference discretization, in infinite or in bounded domains. The numerical results obtained are analyzed and compared with the theoretical results. The main difficulty here is that we have to compute eigenvalues of strongly non-self-adjoint operators which are very unstable.     

Influences of subgrid scale dynamics on resolvable scale statistics in large-eddy simulations

Recently, the -expansion and recursive renormalization group (RNG) theories as well as approximate inertial manifolds (AIM) have been exploited as means of systematically modeling subgrid scales in large-eddy simulations (LES). Although these theoretical approaches are rather complicated mathematically, their key approximations can be investigated using direct numerical simulations (DNS). In fact, the differences among these theories can be traced to whether they retain or neglect interactions between the subgrid-subgrid and subgrid-resolvable scales. In this paper, we focus on the influence of these two interactions on the evolution of the resolvable scales in LES: the effect^A which keeps only the interactions between the small and large scales; and, the effect^B which, on the other hand, keeps only the interactions among the subgrid-subgrid scales. The performance of these models is analyzed using the velocity fields of the direct numerical simulations. Specifically, our comparison is based on the analysis of the energy and enstrophy spectra, as well as higher-order statistics of the velocity and velocity derivatives. We found that the energy spectrum and higher-order statistics for the simulations with the effect^A (referred to, hereafter, as model^A) are in very good agreement with the filtered DNS. The comparison between the computations with effect^B (referred to, hereafter, as model^B) and the filtered DNS, however, is not satisfactory. Moreover, the decorrelation between the filtered DNS and model^A is much slower than that of the filtered DNS and model^B. Therefore, we conclude that the model^A, taking into acciunt the interactions between the subgrid and resolvable scales, is a faithful subgrid model for LES for the range of Reynolds numbers considered.