Abstract
The discharge modes of a thermionic low pressure discharge (p<1Pa) are investigated with the one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation codes PDP1 and XPDP1 [C. K. Birdsall, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 19, 65 (1991)]. The simulation results provide a model approach for stable discharge modes, hysteresis, and for nonlinear relaxation-oscillations. During this potential-relaxation instability, nonlinear structures, e.g. electron holes and double layers, are observed. A Pierce–Buneman-mode is suggested as a trigger mechanism for the onset of the instability. The detailed oscillation process can be subdivided into three distinct phases: expansion phase, double layer phase, and relaxation phase. This allows one to explain the parameter dependencies of the oscillation frequency. For a periodically driven discharge, mode-locking in a period-2 state is found and explained by the model. The mode-locking phenomenon is studied systematically. The results of the simulations are well confirmed by experimental observations presented in Part II of this paper [T. Klinger et al., Phys. Plasmas 2, 1822 (1995)].
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