等离子体中灰尘颗粒带电和等离子体边缘电子损耗

  • 格式:pdf
  • 大小:308.36 KB
  • 文档页数:6

Dustparticlechargeinplasmawithionflowandelectrondepletionnearplasmaboundaries

AngelaDouglass,VictorLand,LorinMatthews,andTruellHydea)CenterforAstrophysics,SpacePhysics,andEngineeringResearch,BaylorUniversity,Waco,Texas76798-7310,USA

(Received9June2011;accepted21July2011;publishedonline19August2011)Thechargeonmicrometer-sizeddustparticlessuspendedinplasmaabovethepoweredelectrodeofradio-frequencydischargesisstudied.Usingaself-consistentfluidmodel,theplasmaprofilesabovetheelectrodearecalculatedandtheelectrondepletiontowardstheelectrode,aswellastheincreasingflowspeedofionstowardtheelectrodeareconsideredinthecalculationofthedustparticlefloatingpotential.Theresultsarecomparedwiththosereportedinliteratureandtheimportanceofthespatialdustchargevariationisinvestigated.VC2011AmericanInstituteofPhysics.[doi:10.1063/1.3624552]

I.INTRODUCTIONDusty,complex,orcolloidalplasmaphysicsispartofthefieldofsoftcondensedmatter,similartogranularmate-rialphysicsandthephysicsofcolloidalsuspensions.1,2In

dustyplasmaexperiments,smallparticles,typicallymicro-meter-sized,areimmersedinplasma.Duetothecollectionofelectronsandionsfromtheplasma,theparticlesobtainalargenegativecharge.Asaresult,theycanbemanipulatedwithelectricfieldsandexhibitinter-particleinteractions.Duetothelargedustparticleinertia,dustyplasmasystemsallowthestudyofsolidstatephenomena,fluiddynamics,turbulenceandmuchmore,onlength-andtimescalesacces-siblewithordinaryopticaltechniques.3,4

Inlaboratorydustyplasmaexperiments,thestrongelec-tricfieldpresentinfrontofthepoweredelectrodeallowsthedustparticlestobelevitatedagainsttheforceofgravity.Theoretically,thechargingofmicro-particlesinplasmaisdescribedbyorbitalmotionlimitedtheory(OML)5andthe

electricfieldinwhichtheparticlesaresuspendedisusuallyassumedtovarylinearlywiththeheightabovetheelec-trode.6Manyexperimentalstudieshavebeenperformedto

determinetheparticlecharge,mostofwhichdependonper-turbingtheplasmaparametersorperturbingthedustpar-ticlesintheplasma,sinceprobemeasurementsindustyplasmasystemsarenotreliable.7–9

Tworecentexperiments,however,wereperformedtomeasuredustparticlechargewithoutperturbingtheplasmaparameters.Bothexperimentswereperformedinradio-fre-quency(RF)plasmadischargesandusedonlyafewdustpar-ticlestoactastracerparticleswithintheplasma.Thefirstemployedarotatingelectrode,causingrotationofthesus-pendedparticlesduetorotationalflowoftheneutralgas.10

Multipleparticlesizeswereusedtoprobedifferentpositionswithinthedischarge.ThisexperimentconcludedthatthedustchargebecomesmorenegativethanpredictedbyOMLtheoryastheparticlesmoveclosertotheelectrodesurface.

Thesecondinvolvedplacementoftheentiredischargecellontoacentrifuge,allowingtheeffectivegravitationalforcetobeenhancedandtheparticlestobepushedclosertotheelectrodesurface.11Thisexperimentconcludedthatthedust

chargebecomeslessnegativeastheparticlesmoveclosertotheelectrodesurface.Notonlydotheresultsfromtheseexperimentsseemtocontradicteachother,theyalsobringtheusualassumptionsaboutdustparticlechargingandlevi-tationindustyplasmaexperimentsintoquestion.Wewillpresentaself-consistentfluidmodel12whichshowsthatthe

twoaboveresultsareinfactconsistentwithoneanother.Thismodelallowsustocomputethedustpotentialand,inturn,thedustchargeasafunctionofheightaboveapoweredelectrodebytakingtheeffectsofionflowandelectrondepletionduetotheplasmaboundaryintoaccount.

II.DUSTCHARGINGINCLUDINGIONFLOWANDELECTRONDEPLETIONNEARAPLASMABOUNDARY

Adustparticleinplasmacollectsionsandelectrons,which,fortypicallaboratorysettings,isthedominantcharg-ingprocess.13Theparticlewillreachitsequilibriumchargewhenthecollectedplasmacurrentscancel

IeþXiIi¼0;(1)

wherethesubscriptedenoteselectronsandidenotesthedif-ferentionspecies.Inthispaper,weconsiderionizedargonastheonlyionspecies.Thesecurrentscanbecalculatedbyintegratingoverthevelocitydistributionoftheplasmaspecies,fe,i(ve,i),including

thecrosssectionforcaptureoftheplasmaparticlebythechargeddustparticle,re,i(ve,i),whichiscalculatedusingOMLtheory5

Ie;i¼Çeðve;ife;iðve;iÞre;iðve;iÞd3ve;i:(2)Intheplasmaabovetheelectrodewherethedustislevi-tated(usuallyassumedtobethesheathregion),theelectrona)

Electronicmail:Truell_Hyde@baylor.edu.

1070-664X/2011/18(8)/083706/6/$30.00VC2011AmericanInstituteofPhysics18,083706-1

PHYSICSOFPLASMAS18,083706(2011)Downloaded 22 Aug 2011 to 129.62.200.177. Redistribution subject to AIP license or copyright; see http://pop.aip.org/about/rights_and_permissions