Peculiarities of the charged particles distribution near the front of a shock wave in a glow discharge plasma

Abstract

The charged particles distribution in a glow discharge plasma near the front of shock wave moving perpendicularly to the discharge axis has been investigated using a double electrical probe. It has been shown that the interaction of the shock wave with the glow-discharge plasma is accompanied by a decrease of charged particles density before the shock wave arrival to the measurement point. This decrease occurs simultaneously through the entire plasma volume. The short-term increase of charged particles density has been revealed. Its appearance caused by interaction of a shock wave with the cathode layer of a glow discharge. These peculiarities of charged particles distribution compared with the case when shock wave propagates through decaying plasma. A significant difference between the distributions of the charged particles in these two cases was revealed.