Determination of the Electric Field by Particle Tracking in a Plasma Sheath Region during Free Fall

IF 1.3 4区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, AEROSPACE Microgravity Science and Technology Pub Date : 2025-01-23 DOI:10.1007/s12217-025-10162-y

Andreas S. Schmitz, Luisa Hanstein, Max Klein, Michael Kretschmer, Christoph Lotz, Aleksandr Shemakhin, Markus H. Thoma

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Abstract

In this work we present an experiment in which we injected microspheres at low pressure into a capacitively coupled argon plasma chamber. The setup was located in the top point of the Einstein-Elevator drop tower in Hannover, Germany, where the microparticles reached their equilibrium position above the lower electrode during \(1 \, g\). During the fall, the trajectories of the microparticles, which were driven by the electric force, the neutral drag force and some residual gravitational force, were recorded. In addition, simulations of the plasma conditions were performed with commercial software to determine the microparticle charges via an orbital motion limit theory approach, taking into account the charge exchange in ion-neutral collisions. Based on the calculated position dependence of the microparticle charges and the electric force, the electric field present in the plasma sheath region was finally determined.

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来源期刊

Microgravity Science and Technology 工程技术-工程：宇航

CiteScore

3.50

自引率

44.40%

发文量

期刊介绍： Microgravity Science and Technology – An International Journal for Microgravity and Space Exploration Related Research is a is a peer-reviewed scientific journal concerned with all topics, experimental as well as theoretical, related to research carried out under conditions of altered gravity. Microgravity Science and Technology publishes papers dealing with studies performed on and prepared for platforms that provide real microgravity conditions (such as drop towers, parabolic flights, sounding rockets, reentry capsules and orbiting platforms), and on ground-based facilities aiming to simulate microgravity conditions on earth (such as levitrons, clinostats, random positioning machines, bed rest facilities, and micro-scale or neutral buoyancy facilities) or providing artificial gravity conditions (such as centrifuges). Data from preparatory tests, hardware and instrumentation developments, lessons learnt as well as theoretical gravity-related considerations are welcome. Included science disciplines with gravity-related topics are: − materials science − fluid mechanics − process engineering − physics − chemistry − heat and mass transfer − gravitational biology − radiation biology − exobiology and astrobiology − human physiology