Spherical probes at ion saturation in E ∧ B fields
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Quasin3DSub.pdf
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Author(s)
Patacchini, Leonardo
Hutchinson, Ian Horner
Alternative Title
Spherical probes at ion saturation in E × B fields
Date Issued
February 2010
Journal
Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
Publisher
Institute of Physics (Great Britain)
Citation
Leonardo Patacchini and Ian H Hutchinson. “Spherical probes at ion saturation in E × B fields.” Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 52.3 (2010): 035005.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
The ion saturation current to a spherical probe in the entire range of ion
magnetization is computed with SCEPTIC3D, a newthree-dimensional version
of the kinetic code SCEPTIC designed to study transverse plasma flows. Results
are compared with prior two-dimensional calculations valid in the magneticfree
regime (Hutchinson 2002 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 44 1953), and
with recent semi-analytic solutions to the strongly magnetized transverse Mach
probe problem (Patacchini and Hutchinson 2009 Phys. Rev. E 80 036403).
At intermediate magnetization (ion Larmor radius close to the probe radius)
the plasma density profiles show a complex three-dimensional structure that
SCEPTIC3D can fully resolve, and, contrary to intuition, the ion current peaks
provided the ion temperature is low enough. Our results are conveniently
condensed in a single factor M[subscript c], function of ion temperature and magnetic
field only, providing the theoretical calibration for a transverse Mach probe
with four electrodes placed at 45◦ to the magnetic field in a plane of flow and
magnetic field.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Plasma Science and Fusion Center
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Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1088/0741-3335/52/3/035005
