Transport variables in plasma column are analytically investigated in this paper. Low-energy electrons and ions are produced from electron beam evaporation of a metal target in the technological vacuum chamber of an electron beam welding machine. Assuming collisionless plasma motion in the radial direction, the electrostatic potential is obtained from model of plasma expansion. Transport variables such as ion density, electron density, conduction heat of the ions and electrons are calculated using the electrostatic potential and are compared with the available experimental data.
Recent laboratory measurements of plasma expansion in a plasma wake experiment are compared with analytical expressions which approximate the plasma expansion model of Crow, Auer & Allen. Good quantitative agreement was found between the data and theory for the velocity and position of the ion expansion front. These results provide an important insight into the behaviour of the expansion early in its development.
Collisionless Plasma Expansion in the Presence of a Dipole Magnetic Field
