Are the oscillations found in magnetized collisional electronegative warm plasma artifact during plasma-surface interaction?

Abstract

The formation of the sheath and its characteristics are investigated in an electronegative plasma under the impact of an oblique and constant magnetic field. Specifically, the role of the magnetic field and initial conditions of positive ion velocity on the sheath characteristics are uncovered by adopting the Sagdeev potential approach for the determination of the modified Bohm’s criterion. At the sheath edge, the upper and lower components of the positive ion velocity perpendicular to the probe/wall are determined and examined in greater detail. The sheath structure is found to be modified considerably by the initial conditions. If the magnetic field is strong near the sheath edge, then the profile of the positive ion density shows a pulse-like structure for the case when we neglect the x-component (parallel to the wall) of positive ion velocity at the sheath edge. This pulse-like structure disappears when all the components of the positive ion velocity at the sheath edge are included, i.e. the ions are considered to move in any direction but towards the probe. The occurrence or disappearance of pulse-like structures or oscillations completely depend upon the initial conditions. Since in real situations the ions are expected to move in any direction (carrying all their velocity components) and are not aligned only in the direction perpendicular to the wall, these oscillations are artifact in nature. The sheath thickness is observed to be reduced with increasing magnetic field strength and its inclination. In order to better understand the phenomenon, isothermal and adiabatic cases are also discussed.