title: NonliNEAR vertical oscillations of a particle in a sheath of a rf discharge.
abstract: A new simple method to measure the spatial distribution of the electric field in the plasma sheath is proposed. The method is based on the experimental investigation of vertical oscillations of a single particle in the sheath of a low-pressure radio-frequency discharge. It is shown that the oscillations become strongly nonlinear as the amplitude increases. The theory of anharmonic oscillations provides a good quantitative description of the data and gives estimates for the first two anharmonic terms in an expansion of the sheath potential around the particle equilibrium.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, D-85740 Garching, Germany. ivlev@mpe.mpg.de
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Ivlev
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sütterlin
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zuzic
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Morfill