Dust charging and levitating in a magnetized plasma sheath containing superextensive electrons

Abstract

A one-dimensional hydrodynamic model is developed for a magnetized plasma sheath, consisting of Maxwell electrons, q-non-extensive electrons, and thermal ions. A significant change is observed in the quantities characterizing isolated dust particles in the presence of superextensive electrons (q < 1). An examination is conducted on the effects of the q parameter, concentration, and temperature of superextensive electrons on the critical Bohm velocity, sheath potential drop, dust charging, and levitation in the sheath. As q decreases and as the superextensive electron concentration and temperature increase, the critical Bohm velocity, sheath potential drop, dust–charge number, and size of levitating dust particles increase. In addition, the dust particles mainly levitate near the sheath edge, and their size increases gradually from the sheath edge to the sheath space.