Zur Diagnostik der Ionenkomponente im Plasma der äußeren positiven Säule einer stromstarken,unmagnetisierten Argon-Hohlkatodenbogenentladung

This paper reviews two measuring methods of the ions and their results in low pressure plasmas, if spectroscopical methods are not applicable to this situation. The behaviour of ions in the positive column of a high current argon hollow cathode arc was studied in dependence of various plasma parameters with the help of a gridded probe and a quadrupole mass spectrometer. The obtained results were analysed with simple theoretical models and measured electron distribution functions.