An Experimental Study of Stable and Chaotic Structures in a Plasma System Analogous to Earth Magnetosphere

Abstract

In recent years, studies on magnetospheric plasmas have increased drastically. Different theoretical models are proposed to match the data observed from various space missions. Still, no sufficient experimental setup is there to replicate the formation like a double layer in these kinds of plasma. In this study, we have made an experimental setup that nearly replicates the magnetospheric plasma environment. We have placed a stainless steel (SS) plate inside our plasma chamber. The argon plasma is produced in the hot cathode discharge method at comparatively high pressure. Then a positive bias is applied to the SS plate with and without attaching a permanent magnet. This positively biased SS plate creates a fireball and firerod-like structures in the absence and presence of the magnet, respectively. This scenario is analogous to the Earth’s magnetospheric plasma and the SS plate represents the pole of the Earth. In this plasma, we have studied the axial variation of ion density (ni ), electron temperature (Te ), electron energy distribution function (EEDF), and the plasma potential for both cases. Lastly, we have discussed the nature of the plasma potential variation with a theoretical model.