The potential profiles near a negatively biased stainless steel plate or mesh immersed in an unmagnetized weakly collisional plasma were investigated experimentally. The results show that deep virtual cathode structures arise inside the sheath region in front of the plate caused by secondary electrons produced by streaming ions hitting the surface of the plate. The characteristics of the virtual cathode depend on the incoming ion energy, neutral gas pressure, and bulk plasma density. In addition, the replacement of the plate with the mesh results in the suppression of the virtual cathode because of the equivalent reduction in the secondary electron yield. V C 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.
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