Large Volume and High Density Surface Wave Plasmas Sustained by Two Microwave Launchers

Surface wave plasma (SWP) is an electromagnetic excitation along the planar interface between a dielectric and plasma medium when plasma density is so large that its permittivity becomes negative. An experiment SWP system consisting of two microwave launchers (upper and side microwave launcher) has been developed for producing large volume surface wave plasmas in ourlaboratory. The experimental investigation shows that comparable uniformity plasma with not only large volume but also high density properties has been obtained by the two launchers.