Charged particle transport across an obstacle in a non-flowing partially magnetized plasma column

Abstract

A wake is created in a plasma when a macroscopic body blocks the flow of charged particles from entering in to a downstream plasma region. The phenomena leads to a strong depletion in charged particle density behind the obstacle. In this paper, charged particle transport inside an ionization free region behind a macroscopic obstacle has been investigated for the case of a non-flowing, partially magnetized plasma column. Surprisingly, it is found that the transport of hotter electron population inside the void region is enhanced due to the application of axial magnetic field. Furthermore, the radial plasma density and potential variation inside the obstructed region show an opposing trend than the region outside the obstacle. A phenomenological model is given to explain the mechanism behind observing these trends.