Plasma Sheath Formation by Radio-Frequency Fields

Abstract

It has been observed experimentally that the application of a radio‐frequency voltage (10 kc/sec–50 Mc/sec) to any one of several electrode configurations around the outside of a plasma discharge tube results in a constriction of the luminous portion of the plasma away from the inner walls of the glass tube. This investigation has established that the phenomenon is basically a radio‐frequency rectification effect, leading to the formation of thick ion sheath. The interaction is described mathematically in terms of a differential equation which has an approximate solution that fits qualitatively all the observed characteristics of the phenomenon. The differential equation, in its most general form, has also been solved numerically and the solution is shown to quantitatively fit our experimental observations for both radio‐frequency sine and square wave signals. An application of this phenomenon as a possible external diagnostic probe technique is proposed.