Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T19:12:55.523Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Plasma boundary motion and the ion-acoustic wave

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

N. St. J. Braithwaite  and
L. M. Wickens
N. St. J. Braithwaite
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Science, Parks Road, Oxford
L. M. Wickens
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Science, Parks Road, Oxford
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Ion-acoustic waves can be launched into plasmas by applying an oscillating voltage wave form to an electrode. The precise mechanism by which these waves are launched from such an electrode is not fully understood. The work described here examines the modelling of sheath edge motion in connexion with acoustic wave launching in both planar and spherical geometries. A novel demonstration of the applicability of the kinetic Bohm criterion is given by using the method of characteristics. A characteristics analysis is also used to show that an expanding, but decelerating, non-planar sheath can give rise to quasi-neutral compression-like features in a plasma. It is also shown that in planar geometry neither this kind of expansion, nor an oscillatory sheath motion, generates compression-like features.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , August 1983 , pp. 133 - 151
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allen, J. E. & Andrews, J. G. 1970 J. Plasma Phys. 4, 187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, J. G. & Shrapnel, A. J. 1972 Phys. Fluids, 15, 2271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bohm, D. 1949 The characteristics of electrical discharges in magnetic fields (ed. Guthrie, A. and Wakerling, R. K.), ch. 3. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Chen, T. & Schott, L. 1977 Phys. Fluids, 20, 844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cippola, J. W. & Silevitch, M. B. 1981 J. Plasma Phys. 25, 373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coates, A. J. 1982 D.Phil, thesis, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Kino, G. S. & Shaw, E. K. 1966 Phys. Fluids, 9, 587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Misra, S. G. & Schott, L. 1973 Plasma Phys. 15, 883.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prewett, P. D. 1974 D.Phil, thesis, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Prewett, P. D. & Allen, J. E. 1973 J. Plasma Phys. 10, 451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wickens, L. M. 1980 D.Phil, thesis, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Wickens, L. M., Braithwaite, N. St. J. & Coates, A. J. 1982 Phys. Lett. 88A, 147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widner, M., Alexeff, I. & Jones, W. D. 1970 Phys. Fluids, 13, 2532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woods, L. C. 1965 J. Fluid Mech. 23, 315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar