Abstract
The plasma diode is proposed as a vehicle for testing theories on sheath structure with collisions. A kinetic theory model of the plasma-sheath transition is used to analyze the operation of the diode. In particular the sheath structure at the cold collector is obtained in the limiting cases where the local Debye length is much larger than and much smaller than the mean free path. Comparison of the theoretical current-voltage characteristics with experimental ones obtained in a cesium thermionic converter shows that the slopes of the theoretical limiting curves bracket the experimental behavior quite closely. The theory is used to obtain values for the electron and ion diffusion coefficients and the collector work function.
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