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Physics of Plasmas / Volume 13 / Issue 3 / ARTICLES / Basic Plasma Phenomena, Waves, Instabilities

Phys. Plasmas 13, 032103 (2006); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2178653 (7 pages)

Influence of a finite initial ion density gradient on plasma expansion into a vacuum

T. Grismayer and P. Mora

Centre de Physique Théorique, Unité Mixte de recherche 7644 du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), École Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France

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(Received 28 November 2005; accepted 31 January 2006; published online 16 March 2006)

The influence of a finite initial ion density gradient on a plasma expansion into a vacuum is studied with a numerical model that takes into account the charge-separation effects and assumes a Boltzmann equilibrium for the electrons. The cases of a semi-infinite plasma and of a finite plasma slab are treated. In both cases it is shown that the finite initial ion density gradient of the plasma surface leads to two phases in the plasma expansion, separated by a wave breaking of the ion flow. An ion front forms after the wave breaking and, in the semi-infinite plasma case, the plasma expansion becomes closer and closer to the initially sharp boundary case, the maximum ion velocity increasing logarithmically with time. In the finite plasma slab case, the energy conservation has to be taken into account, the thermal electron energy being progressively converted into the kinetic energy of the ions. When the initial ion density scale length lss is larger than a few percent of the total plasma slab width, the final maximum ion velocity decreases with lss.

© 2006 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. THE EXPANSION MODEL
  3. THE ISOTHERMAL CASE
    1. Initial conditions
    2. Plasma expansion before wave breaking
    3. Plasma expansion after wave breaking
  4. THE ADIABATIC CASE
  5. CONCLUSION

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

plasma density, plasma transport processes, plasma flow, plasma thermodynamics, numerical analysis

PACS

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2178653

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1070-664X (print)  
1089-7674 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

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