Thermionic Cooling of the Target Plasma to a Sub-eV Temperature.

Contemporary models of bounded plasmas assume that the target plasma electron temperature far exceeds the temperature of the cold electrons emitted from the target, T_{emit}. We show that when the sheath facing a collisional plasma becomes inverted, the target plasma electron temperature has to equal T_{emit} even if the upstream plasma is hotter by orders of magnitude. This extreme cooling effect can alter the plasma properties and the heat transmission to thermionically emitting surfaces in many applications. It also opens a possibility of using thermionic divertor plates to induce detachment in tokamaks.

Strongly Emitting Surfaces Unable to Float below Plasma Potential.

An important unresolved question in plasma physics concerns the effect of strong electron emission on plasma-surface interactions. Previous papers reported solutions with negative and positive floating potentials relative to the plasma edge. The two models give very different predictions for particle and energy balance. Here we show that the positive potential state is the only possible equilibrium in general. Even if a negative floating potential existed at t=0, the ionization collisions near the surface will force a transition to the positive floating potential state. This transition is demonstrated with a new simulation code.

General cause of sheath instability identified for low collisionality plasmas in devices with secondary electron emission.

A condition for sheath instability due to secondary electron emission (SEE) is derived for low collisionality plasmas. When the SEE coefficient of the electrons bordering the depleted loss cone in energy space exceeds unity, the sheath potential is unstable to a negative perturbation. This result explains three different instability phenomena observed in Hall thruster simulations including a newly found state with spontaneous ∼20 MHz oscillations. When instabilities occur, the SEE propagating between the walls becomes the dominant contribution to the particle flux, energy loss and axial transport.

Absence of Debye sheaths due to secondary electron emission.

A bounded plasma where the hot electrons impacting the walls produce more than one secondary on average is studied via particle-in-cell simulation. It is found that no classical Debye sheath or space-charge-limited sheath exists. Ions are not drawn to the walls and electrons are not repelled. Hence the unconfined plasma electrons travel unobstructed to the walls, causing extreme particle and energy fluxes. Each wall has a positive charge, forming a small potential barrier or "inverse sheath" that pulls some secondaries back to the wall to maintain the zero current condition.

Alternative model of space-charge-limited thermionic current flow through a plasma.

It is widely assumed that thermionic current flow through a plasma is limited by a "space-charge-limited" (SCL) cathode sheath that consumes the hot cathode's negative bias and accelerates upstream ions into the cathode. Here, we formulate a fundamentally different current-limited mode. In the "inverse" mode, the potentials of both electrodes are above the plasma potential, so that the plasma ions are confined. The bias is consumed by the anode sheath. There is no potential gradient in the neutral plasma region from resistivity or presheath. The inverse cathode sheath pulls some thermoelectrons back to the cathode, thereby limiting the circuit current. Thermoelectrons entering the zero-field plasma region that undergo collisions may also be sent back to the cathode, further attenuating the circuit current. In planar geometry, the plasma density is shown to vary linearly across the electrode gap. A continuum kinetic planar plasma diode simulation model is set up to compare the properties of current modes with classical, conventional SCL, and inverse cathode sheaths. SCL modes can exist only if charge-exchange collisions are turned off in the potential well of the virtual cathode to prevent ion trapping. With the collisions, the current-limited equilibrium must be inverse. Inverse operating modes should therefore be present or possible in many plasma devices that rely on hot cathodes. Evidence from past experiments is discussed. The inverse mode may offer opportunities to minimize sputtering and power consumption that were not previously explored due to the common assumption of SCL sheaths.

Negative plasma potential relative to electron-emitting surfaces.

Most works on plasma-wall interaction predict that with strong electron emission, a nonmonotonic "space-charge-limited" (SCL) sheath forms where the plasma potential is positive relative to the wall. We show that a fundamentally different sheath structure is possible where the potential monotonically increases toward a positively charged wall that is shielded by a single layer of negative charge. No ion-accelerating presheath exists in the plasma and the ion wall flux is zero. An analytical solution of the "inverse sheath" regime is demonstrated for a general plasma-wall system where the plasma electrons and emitted electrons are Maxwellian with different temperatures. Implications of the inverse sheath effect are that (a) the plasma potential is negative, (b) ion sputtering vanishes, (c) no charge is lost at the wall, and (d) the electron energy flux is thermal. To test empirically what type of sheath structure forms under strong emission, a full plasma bounded by strongly emitting walls is simulated. It is found that inverse sheaths form at the walls and ions are confined in the plasma. This result differs from past particle-in-cell simulation studies of emission which contain an artificial "source sheath" that accelerates ions to the wall, leading to a SCL sheath at high emission intensity.