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Electric fields and double layers in plasmas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2009

Nagendra Singh ,
H. Thiemann  and
R. W. Schunk
Nagendra Singh
Affiliation:
Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322–3400
H. Thiemann
Affiliation:
Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322–3400
R. W. Schunk
Affiliation:
Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322–3400
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Abstract

Various mechanisms for driving double layers in plasmas are briefly described, including applied potential drops, currents, contact potentials, and plasma expansions. Some dynamic features of the double layers are discussed. These features, as seen in simulations, laboratory experiments and theory, indicate that double layers and the currents through them undergo slow oscillations, which are determined by the ion transit time across an effective length of the system in which the double layers form. It is shown that a localized potential dip forms at the low potential end of a double layer, which interrupts the electron current through it according to the Langmuir criterion, whenever the ion flux into the double is disrupted. The generation of electric fields perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field by contact potentials is also discussed. Two different situations have been considered; in one, a low-density hot plasma is sandwiched between high-density cold plasmas, while in the other a high-density current sheet permeates a low-density background plasma. Perpendicular electric fields develop near the contact surfaces. In the case of the current sheet, the creation of parallel electric fields and the formation of double layers are also discussed when the current sheet thickness is varied. Finally, the generation of electric fields (parallel to an ambient magnetic field) and double layers in an expanding plasma are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , May 1987 , pp. 233 - 255
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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