The two-dimensional plasma potential measurements are given of a space-charge dominated double sheath near a hot cathode. Laboratory data show that a virtual cathode is a self-consistent solution only for a transient cathode-plasma system. Slow charge exchange ions get trapped in the potential dip that forms the virtual cathode and eventually destroy it.

The effects of both magnetic field and collisions on presheath properties are experimentally investigated in plasmas with electron temperatures much greater than ion temperatures. Measurements of plasma potential in collisionless plasmas show presheath thicknesses at boundaries oblique to magnetic field to be approximately (Cs/ωci)sin ψ, where Cs is the ion sound speed, ωci is the ion gyrofrequency, and Ψ is the angle between the magnetic field and the normal to the wall boundary. Measurements of plasma potential in collisional plasmas find presheaths consisting of two distinctive regions. With ion–neutral collision mean-free path λn<(Cs/ωci)sin ψ, the presheath region next to the sheath has collisional characteristics and a thickness of approximately (0.5–0.6)λn. The corresponding presheath region adjacent to the bulk plasma has magnetic characteristics and a thickness of approximately (0.5–0.9)(Cs/ωci)sin ψ. Equipotential contours in the collisional region of this presheath are found to be parallel to the boundary, while those in the magnetic region are not.

Effective electric field in dc magnetization measurements: Comparing magnetization to transport critical currents

No abstract

It is shown that Langmuir probes can have three different floating potentials in plasmas produced by a hot filament discharge in a multi-dipole device when the primary and secondary electron currents are comparable. The measured floating potential depends on the probe’s initial condition—the most negative and the least negative potentials are found to be stable and the in-between value is found to be unstable. Results are compared to a simple theoretical model.