Dynamics of Dust in a Plasma Sheath with Magnetic Field

Dynamics of dust in a plasma sheath with a magnetic field was investigated using a single particle model. The result shows that the radius, initial position, initial velocity of the dust particles and the magnetic field do effect their movement and equilibrium position in the plasma sheath. Generally, the dust particles with the same size, whatever original velocity and position they have, will locate at the same position in the end under the net actions of electrostatic, gravitational, neutral collisional, and Lorentz forces. But the dust particles will not locate in the plasma sheath if their radius is beyond a certain value.     

Effects of the Hot Electron Interchange Instability on Plasma Confined in a Dipolar Magnetic Field

The Levitated Dipole Experiment (LDX) explores confinement and stability of plasma created within the dipole field of a strong superconducting magnet. During initial experiments, long-pulse, quasi-steady state discharges that last more than 10 s and have peak beta of more than 20% are studied. The plasma is created by multi-frequency electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) at 2.45 and 6.4 GHz. A population of energetic electrons, with mean energies above 50 keV, dominates the plasma pressure. Creation of high pressure, high beta plasma is possible only when intense hot electron interchange (HEI) instabilities are stabilized by sufficient neutral gas fueling. The instabilities resonate with the magnetic drift motion of the energetic electrons and can cause rapid radial transport. Measurements of the electrostatic and magnetic fluctuations of the HEI instability are described along with observations of the instability’s spectral characteristics. Fluctuations of the outer poloidal field induced by the HEI show a rapid evolution of the perturbed pressure profile.      

Analysis of the Plasma Properties Affected by Magnetic Confinement with Special Emphasis on Helicon Discharges

A one-dimensional radial non-uniform fluid model is employed to study plasma behaviors with special emphasis laid on helicon discharges. The plasma density ne, electron temperature Te, electron azimuthal and radial drift velocities are investigated in terms of the plasma radius rp, magnetic field intensity B0 and gas pressure p0, by assuming radial ambipolar diffusion and negligible ion cyclotron movement. The results show that the magnetic confinement plays an important role in the discharge equilibrium, especially at low pressure, which significantly reduces Te compared with the case of a negligible magnetic field effect, and higher B0 leads to a greater average plasma density. Te shows little variations in the plasma density range of 1011 cm-3- 1013 cm-3 for p0 〈 3.0 mTorr. Comparison of the simulation results with experiments suggests that the model can make reasonable predictions of Te in low pressure helicon discharges.     

Study of Plume Characteristics of a Stationary Plasma Thruster

Electron density and temperature of the plume are measured by a double Langmuir probe in an experimental chamber. A numerical model based on both particle-in-cell scheme and direct simulation Monte Carlo hybrid method is developed to simulate the flow field of plume. The equation for plasma potential is solved by alternative direction implicit technique. The simulation is verified by comparing the computational results with the measured data. The study indicates that the electron temperature of flow field is about 2 eV and the electron density is about 2.5 ×10^16 - 5×10^15 m^-3 at the central line with a distance of 0.3 - 1.0 m downstream of the thruster exit. The model can well predict the flow field parameters of the steady plume. The efforts of this paper are referable for further investigation.     

The Implementation of Magnetic Islands in Gyrokinetic Toroidal Code

The implementation of magnetic islands in gyrokinetic simulation has been verified in the gyrokinetic toroidal code (GTC). The ion and electron density profiles become partially flattened inside the islands. The density profile at the low fleld side is less flattened than that at the high field side due to toroidally trapped particles in the low field side, which do not move along the perturbed magnetic field lines. When the fraction of trapped particles decreases, the density profile at the low field becomes more flattened.     

High-Beta Steady-State FRC Plasma Sustained by Rotating Magnetic Field with Spatial High-Harmonic Components

Field-reversed configurations (FRCs) driven by rotating magnetic fields (RMFs) with spatial high-harmonic components have been studied in the metal flux conserver of the FRC injection experiment (FIX). The high-harmonic RMF method has some unique features; (1) field lines of the RMF do not penetrate or cross the vessel wall, (2) selective penetration/exclusion of the fundamental/high-harmonic RMF component will result in a generation of effective magnetic pressure near the separatrix, which helps to keep the separatrix away from the vessel wall, (3) strong azimuthal non-uniformity of the RMF will cause the n = 4 deformation of the core FRC plasma, which will eliminate the destructive modes caused by the rotation of the plasma column. The RMF method with high harmonics will provide quasi-steady current drive of high-beta FRC plasmas without destructive n = 2 rotational mode and will be helpful in reducing the particle loss and thermal load when applied to the fusion core plasma.     

Investigations of the Sheath Effect on the Resultant Magnetic Field of a Cylindrical Monopole Plasma Antenna

The functionality of the plasma antenna has been narrowed to types and brand names only.The physics of its operation has been neglected and has stagnated technological innovations.The magnetic field in the sheath and plasma were investigated.Notable specifications were worked out in the proposed improved cylindrical monopole plasma antenna.The occurrence of femto spin demagnetization was discovered between the duration of switch on and switch off of the antenna.This phenomenon seems transient because magnetization is highest at the switch on/off point.     

The Influence of Magnetic Field on Antenna Performance in Plasma

A spacecraft loses all forms of communication, including global positioning system signals, data telemetry, voice communication and so on, when it enters the communication blackout phase. This becomes more and more critical with the development of reentry vehicle missions since radio blackout brings about many serious issues related to vehicle safety. This paper studies the influence of magnetic field on antenna performance in plasma. The results indicate that the effect of plasma on the antenna performance can be negligible when the magnetic field reaches a certain strength. This provides another way to solve the reentry blackout problem.     

Plasma Flows within the Context of Biasing Experiments

The understanding and reduction of turbulent transport in magnetic confinement devices is not only an academic task, but also the matter of practical interest, since high confinement is chosen as the regime for ITER and possible future reactors it reduces both the size and the cost. Since the pioneering work on CCT a lot of work has been devoted to the effect of electric field biasing carried out on many tokamaks, which in general leads to a strongly varying radial electric fields as a function of radius and a resulting sheared E×B flow, giving rise to improved confinement properties.The issue of plasma flows is utterly fundamental for understanding of tokamaks aimed at the achievement of fusion energy. This appears in the well known neoclassical theory as the most accomplished and self-consistent basis for understanding of fusion plasmas. It pertains to the novel concept of "zonal flows" emerging from the recent development of gyro-kinetic transport codes. The poloidal and toroidal flows are also cruc     

Influence of a Static Magnetic Field on Laser Induced Tungsten Plasma in Air

In this work,laser induced tungsten plasma has been investigated in the absence and presence of 0.6 T static transverse magnetic field at atmospheric pressure in air.The spectroscopic characterization of laser induced tungsten plasma was experimentally studied using space-resolved emission spectroscopy.The atomic emission lines of tungsten showed a significant enhancement in the presence of a magnetic field,while the ionic emission lines of tungsten presented little change.Temporal variation of the optical emission lines of tungsten indicated that the atomic emission time in the presence of a magnetic field was longer than that in the absence of a magnetic field,while no significant changes occurred for the ionic emission time.The spatial resolution of optical emission lines of tungsten demonstrated that the spatial distribution of atoms and ions were separated.The influence of a magnetic field on the spatial distribution of atoms was remarkable,whereas the spatial distribution of ions was little influenced by the magnetic field.The different behaviors between ions and atoms with and without magnetic field in air were related to the various atomic processes especially the electrons and ions recombination process during the plasma expansion and cooling process.     

Tunability of One-Dimensional Plasma Photonic Crystals with an External Magnetic Field

We investigated in detail how photonic band structures (PBSs) of one dimensional plasma photonic crystals (PPCs) are tuned after being exposed to an external magnetic field. We showed that the properties of PBSs of PPCs are tuned correspondingly because the dielectric constant of the micro plasma layer is modified differently in different frequency ranges due to magneto-optical effects. Two numerical cases are calculated and discussed to study the magnetooptical effects on the properties of PBSs, including the Faraday and Voigt effects.     

Efficiency of Removing Sulfur Dioxide in the Air by Non-Thermal Plasma Along with the Application of the Magnetic Field

1 IntroductionSO2 is one of the main hazards to human health, andit is the main component of the acidic oxides in the at-mosphere. The menace of the acidic pollution by SO2can be curtailed if it is removed from the air. In recenttime, researchers across the world have been concernedabout efficient removal of SO2.Several techniques have been applied to decompos-ing SO2 in the air in recent years. At present, themain technologies for removing sulfur dioxide include:the gas-phase reaction [1]…     

Ion Heating in an ECR Plasma with a Magnetic Mirror Field

Magnetoelectric heating was used to heat ions in an ECR plasma with a magnetic mirror field.The temperature and density of ions were measured by an ion sensitive probe(ISP) before and after magnetoelectric heating in order to investigate the influence of the anode ring’s radius,axial position and working pressure on magnetoelectric heating.Results showed that a suitable radius of the anode ring could improve the ion temperature effectively and the optimal size of the anode ring depended on the cyclotron radius of ions.The radial uniformity of the ion density was improved by increasing the radius of the anode ring after heating.The magnetic mirror field could reduce the loss of ions caused by collision with the wall of the chamber and it was beneficial to increase the ion temperature and the ion density.It was suitable to heat the ions when the anode ring was set at the center of the magnetic mirror field where there was a weaker magnetic field strength.Lower pressure contributed to the increase in the ion temperature and efficiency of magnetoelectric heating.     

Sheath Criterion for an Electronegative Plasma Sheath in an Oblique Magnetic Field

The sheath criterion for an electronegative plasma composed of hot electrons,hot negative ions and cold positive ions in an oblique magnetic field is investigated.We discuss the effects of negative ions and external magnetic field on the sheath criterion.We find that the ion Mach number is of relatively low value because of Coulomb attraction between positive and negative ions.Also the ion Mach number depends on the magnitude and the angle of the magnetic field as well as the initial velocity of ion flow.     

The Influence of Magnetic Permeability on the Configuration of magnetic Field in Helimak Device

The Helimak of USA is a plasma physics experimental device designed and built by CASIPP.Its configuration of magnetic field is of very importance during the operation of this device.In this paper,the influence of magnetic permeability on configuration of magnetic field will be discussed due to the effect of weld metal in the vacuum vessel of Helimak,and some conclusion is useful for some engineering designs of the fusion experimental device.     

Analysis of Magnetic Field of the DNB Ion Source

A distribution of the magnetic field produced by permanent magnets in the DNB ion source is calculated and analyzed in order to understand the plasma confinement in a cusped magnetic field and optimize plasma discharge. A uniform plasma is obtained in the experiment.     

Preliminary Results of Drift Instability by Fast Optical Images in KT-5D Toroidal Plasma

Drift instability in plasma generated by electron cyclotron resonance （ECR） in KT- 5D device was investigated by using a fast camera and Langmuir probes. The similarity between the distribution of light intensity from the images and the plasma pressure indicates a nearly linear relationship. The discharge images taken by the camera and the plasma parameters measured by the probes also indicate the existence of low frequency turbulent events with a time scale less than a few mini-seconds.     

The Drift of Dust Grains Induced by Transient Magnetic Field

Our experiment shows that the dust grains ,suspended on the edge of the sheath of a radio-frequency discharge,undergo a contraction when switching a vertical magnetic field on ,and an expansion when switching the magnetic field off .We call this kind of magnetic field“transient magnetic field”.A primary analysis is proposed for the phenomenon.     

Effects of Magnetic Field and Ion Velocity on SPT Plasma Sheath Characteristics

The distribution of magnetic field in Hall thruster channel has significant effect on its discharge process and wall plasma sheath characteristics. By creating physical models for the wall sheath region and adopting two-dimensional particle in cell simulation method, this work aims to investigate the effects of magnitude and direction of magnetic field and ion velocity on the plasma sheath characteristics. The simulation results show that magnetic field magnitudes have small impact on the sheath potential and the secondary electron emission coefficient, magnetic azimuth between the magnetic field direction and the channel radial direction is proportional to the absolute value of the sheath potential, but inversely proportional to the secondary electron emission coefficient. With the increase of the ion incident velocity, secondary electron emission coefficient is enhanced, however, electron density number, sheath potential and radial electric field are decreased. When the boundary condition is determined, with an increase of the sinmlation area radial scale, the sheath potential oscillation is aggravated, and the stability of the sheath is reduced.     

Influence of Chemical Precleaning on the Plasma Treatment Efficiency of Aluminum by RF Plasma Pencil

This paper is aimed to show the influence of initial chemical pretreatment prior to subsequent plasma activation of aluminum surfaces.The results of our study showed that the state of the topmost surface layer（i.e.the surface morphology and chemical groups）of plasma modified aluminum significantly depends on the chemical precleaning.Commonly used chemicals（isopropanol,trichlorethane,solution of Na OH in deionized water）were used as precleaning agents.The plasma treatments were done using a radio frequency driven atmospheric pressure plasma pencil developed at Masaryk University,which operates in Ar,Ar/O₂ gas mixtures.The effectiveness of the plasma treatment was estimated by the wettability measurements,showing high wettability improvement already after 0.3 s treatment.The effects of surface cleaning（hydrocarbon removal）,surface oxidation and activation（generation of OH groups）were estimated using infrared spectroscopy.The changes in the surface morphology were measured using scanning electron microscopy.Optical emission spectroscopy measurements in the near-to-surface region with temperature calculations showed that plasma itself depends on the sample precleaning procedure.