Current–voltage characteristics of a substrate in a crossed E×B field system exposed to plasma flux from vacuum arc plasma sources

Plasma Jet Interaction With a Spherical Target in Magnetic Field

“…As a result, the target current depends significantly on the biasing voltage and the magnetic field. This dependence is similar to that described for the cylindrical system [9], where the current rise is low at low pressure. Taking this into consideration, the different behaviors of the target current with the magnetic field (Figs.…”

“…The plasma torus is created due to the background gas ionization in the crossed field system, whereas the plasma streams consist of metal plasma produced by the vacuum arc source. This structure is similar to that noticed in the system with a cylindrical target [9], but the plasma streams are more curved, due to the more curved magnetic field lines, as compared with the cylindrical geometry. The estimation of current density at target surface provides a value of A m according to formula , where is the measured target current and is the area of streams attachment to the target.…”

“…This scheme ensures magnetic confinement of electrons around the target, as it occurs in Hall ion thrusters [2]. A detailed description of the plasma structure in a system with a cylindrical target was presented elsewhere [9]. In this paper, we describe the plasma structure and main characteristics of the system with the spherical target in the magnetic field.…”

“…It was shown that the magnetic field strongly influences the plasma structure [9] and the current always increases with the magnetic field strength, in contrast to magnetron-like discharge when the target current may decrease when the magnetic field increases [10]. When a plasma jet interacts with the biased cylindrical target immersed into the magnetic field, a complex plasma structure is created that consists of a plasma torus around the target and two plasma streams that enclose the plasma torus [9]. The magnetic field provides separation of the external plasma jet into streams and the following transport through the virtual ducts of variable cross section [11].…”

Plasma meets metamaterials: Three ways to advance space micropropulsion systems

“…In contrast, metamaterials are a novel, most promising class of structurally complex materials the use of which in aerospace technology is at the very early stages (Figure 1(a,b)). The interaction between plasma and metamaterials may give rise to a range of interesting phenomena that may deliver tangible benefits to space micro-propulsion systems [13]. In this paper, we will focus on so-called cold plasmas, i.e.…”