Floating potential of a small particle in a plasma: Difference between Maxwellian and Druyvesteyn electron velocity distributions

Abstract

The floating potential of a small spherical particle immersed in a plasma is calculated for two different electron velocity distributions functions, Maxwellian and Druyvesteyn ones. It is shown that for plasma conditions typical for laboratory gas discharges, the difference between the floating potentials for these two distributions is small, provided the mean energy of the electrons is the same. The obtained results can be useful in the context of complex (dusty) plasmas.