Open AccessSelf-Consistent System of Equations for a Kinetic Description of the Low-Pressure Discharges Accounting for the Nonlocal and Collisionless Electron Dynamics
Author(s) -
Igor Kaganovich,
Oleg Polomarov
Publication year - 2003
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/814016
Subject(s) - kinetic energy , electron , plasma , distribution function , physics , atomic physics , operator (biology) , electron density , mechanics , classical mechanics , chemistry , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics , biochemistry , repressor , gene , transcription factor
In low-pressure discharges, when the electron mean free path is larger or comparable with the discharge length, the electron dynamics is essentially non-local. Moreover, the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) deviates considerably from a Maxwellian. Therefore, an accurate kinetic description of the low-pressure discharges requires knowledge of the non-local conductivity operator and calculation of the non-Maxwellian EEDF. The previous treatments made use of simplifying assumptions: a uniform density profile and a Maxwellian EEDF. In the present study a self-consistent system of equations for the kinetic description of nonlocal, non-uniform, nearly collisionless plasmas of low-pressure discharges is derived. It consists of the nonlocal conductivity operator and the averaged kinetic equation for calculation of the non-Maxwellian EEDF. The importance of accounting for the non-uniform plasma density profile on both the current density profile and the EEDF is demonstrated