Charge of a macroscopic particle in a plasma sheath.
Charging of a macroscopic body levitating in a rf plasma sheath is studied experimentally and theoretically. The nonlinear charge vs size dependence is obtained. The observed nonlinearity is explained on the basis of an approach taking into account different plasma conditions for the levitation positions of different particles. The importance of suprathermal electrons' contribution to the charging process is demonstrated.
Samarian
A A
AA
School of Physics, The University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
Vladimirov
S V
SV