How to patch active plasma and collisionless sheath: A practical guide

Most plasmas have a very thin sheath compared with the plasma dimension. This necessitates separate calculations of the plasma and sheath. The Bohm criterion provides the boundary condition for calculation of plasma profiles. To calculate sheath properties a value of the electric field at the plasma-sheath interface has to be specified in addition to the Bohm criterion. The value of the boundary electric field and a robust procedure to approximately patch plasma and collisionless sheath with a very good accuracy are reported. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.