Experimental Results on Plasma Interactions with Large Surfaces at High Voltages

Grier, N. T.

doi:10.2514/6.1980-43

Cited by 15 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…A variety of plasma sources and chambers have been developed by national space agencies, research institutes and commercial companies in the past few decades. For the development and testing of space systems, the ground-based plasma environment can be applied to studies of spacecraft surface charging (Inouye 1977, Grier 1980, Buchholtz and Wilbur 1993, high voltage arcing (Ferguson 1986, Carruth et al 1993 and plasma induced electromagnetic interference (Leung 1985, Vayner et al 1996. In these studies, plasma sources are designed to simulate a harsh space environment in the lab and to investigate the response of the instruments, as well as to verify the system's survival in such a critical condition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Back-diffusion plasma generator for ionosphere study

Fang

Oyama

Chen

2017

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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To produce ionospheric plasma environments at ground level is essential to get information not only for the development of CubeSat-class spacecraft but also for the design of ionospheric plasma instruments and to confirm their performance. In this paper, we describe the principle of plasma generation and characteristics of the back-diffusion plasma source, which can produce inlab plasma similar to the Earth's ionosphere, E and F regions, conditions of electron and ion temperature and density. The ion and electron energy distributions of the plasma generated by a back-diffusion source are measured by means of a cleaned Langmuir probe and gridded particle energy analyzers. The ion motion in front of the source is investigated by a hard-sphere collision model in SIMION software and the simulation results are comparable with the findings of our experiment. Furthermore, plasma densities and ion temperatures at different positions in front of the source are also demonstrated. The back-diffusion source has been accommodated for ionospheric plasma productions in several Asian institutes. The plasma characteristics of the source shown in this paper will benefit space research groups in the development of space plasma instruments.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Back-diffusion plasma generator for ionosphere study

Fang

Oyama

Chen

2017

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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“…The values of a, a, and X obtained for a single biased slit are used in Eq. (2) to describe the total potential distribution for the case where both slits are biased. The results of this calculation are also given in Figs.…”

Section: Sheath Structure Around Slitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma electron collection through biased slits in a dielectric

Carruth

1987

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

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A large number of experimental and analytical efforts have been directed toward understanding the plasma sheath growth and discharge phenomena which lead to high-voltage solar array/space plasma interactions. An important question which has not been addressed is how the voltage gradient in the plasma sheath near the surface of such an array may affect these interactions. The purpose of the experimental study described in this paper is to examine the merging of the sheaths around biased slits in a dielectric and how this affects the collection of electrons through these slits. The data, which are obtained by emissive probes and direct measurement of the current collected through the slits, indicate that when the sheaths merge the current collection by the slits is significantly altered with the most positive slit collecting more electrons than it otherwise would. Therefore, the effect of a voltage gradient in the sheath around a solar array should be considered when evaluating solar array performance.

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