Particle in cell calculation of plasma force on a small grain in a non-uniform collisional sheath

2013/08/12 by I H Hutchinson, I. H. Hutchinson, Hutchinson, I H
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Electrohydrodynamics and Fluid Dynamics #FOS: Physical sciences #Laser-induced spectroscopy and plasma #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #physics.plasm-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1308.2636

openalex publication_date 2013/08/12 · arxiv created 2013/09/02 · arxiv updated 2013/09/03 · openalex created_date 2017/04/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The plasma force on grains of specified charge and height in a collisional DC plasma sheath are calculated using the multidimensional particle in cell code COPTIC. The background ion velocity distribution functions for the unperturbed sheath vary substantially with collisionality. The grain force is found to agree quite well with a combination of background electric field force plus ion drag force. However, the drag force must take account of the non-Maxwellian (and spatially varying) ion distribution function, and the collisional drag enhancement. It is shown how to translate the dimensionless results into practical equilibrium including other forces such as gravity.

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