TY - JOUR
T1 - Back-diffusion plasma generator for ionosphere study
AU - Fang, H. K.
AU - Oyama, K. I.
AU - Chen, A. B.
N1 - Funding Information:
The work was partially supported by the research grants (MOST 104-2111-M-006-004 and MOST 105-2111-M-006-002) by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan.
PY - 2017/10/31
Y1 - 2017/10/31
N2 - 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 in-lab 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.
AB - 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 in-lab 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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U2 - 10.1088/1361-6595/aa92fc
DO - 10.1088/1361-6595/aa92fc
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85034594718
VL - 26
JO - Plasma Sources Science and Technology
JF - Plasma Sources Science and Technology
SN - 0963-0252
IS - 11
M1 - 115010
ER -