Penetration of a low-pressure reflex-discharge plasma into a hollow electrode

It is shown experimentally that the plasma of a hollow-cathode reflex discharge is characterized by a nonequilibrium electron velocity distribution. The parameters of the electron distribution, which is approximated by a superposition of two Maxwellian distributions with different temperatures, are estimated. The penetration of the discharge plasma into the hollow cathode at various cathode potentials and a gas pressure of similar to10(-2) Pa is studied. It is shown that the plasma parameters in the hollow electrode depend not only on the parameters of the reflex-discharge plasma, but also on the magnitude and configuration of the magnetic and electric fields in the plasma expansion region. It is shown that the plasma penetration can be accompanied by quasineutrality violation and the formation of space-charge double layers. Experiments confirm that the ion current from the nonequilibrium plasma exceeds the Bohm current. (C) 2002 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".