Cross-field diffusion in low-temperature plasma discharges of finite length**This article is part of the special issue ‘Transport in B-fields in low-temperature plasmas’, published in Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. vol 23, issue 4 (http://iopscience.iop.org/0963-0252/23/4).

Abstract

The long-standing problem of plasma diffusion across a magnetic field (B-field) is reviewed, with emphasis on low-temperature linear devices of finite length with the magnetic field aligned along an axis of symmetry. In these partially ionized plasmas, cross-field transport is dominated by ion–neutral collisions and can be treated simply with fluid equations. Nonetheless, electron confinement is complicated by sheath effects at the endplates, and these must be accounted for to get agreement with experiment.