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Low pressure cold plasma, using breathing air as the plasma gas, has been shown to be effective at precision cleaning aerospace hardware at Kennedy Space Center.Both atmospheric and low pressure plasmas are relatively new technologies being investigated for disinfecting agricultural commodities and medical instruments.
Regions of enhanced cold plasma, isolated from the main plasmasphere along the Explorer 45 orbit on the equatorial plane, are reported using the sheath induced potentials seen by the electric field experiment. The occurrence of these regions has a strong correlation with negative enhancements of Dst, and their locations are primarily in the noon-dusk quadrant. The data support the concept that changes in large scale convection play a dominant role in the formation of these regions. Plasmatails that are predicted from enhancements of large scale convection electric fields in general define where these regions may be found. More localized processes are necessary to account for the exact configuration and structure seen in these regions and may eventually result in detachment from the main plasmasphere.
Regions of enhanced cold plasma, isolated from the main plasmasphere along the Explorer 45 (53-A) orbit in the equatorial plane, have been detected by using the sheath-induced potentials seen by the electric field experiment. The occurrence of these regions has a strong correlation with negative enhancements of Dst, and their locations are primarily in the noon-dusk quadrant. The data support the concept that changes in large-scale convection play a dominant role in the formation of these regions. Plasma tails that are predicted from enhancements of large-scale convection electric fields in general define where these regions may be found. More localized processes are necessary to account for the exact configuration and structure seen in these regions and may eventually result in detachment from the main plasmasphere.
The roles of Ar and H2 on the decomposition of SiCl4 in cold plasma were investigated by Langmuir probes and mass spectrometry. Decomposition of the reactant by Ar only has been found to be very slow. In presence of H2 in the plasma SiCl4 is decomposed by fast radical-molecule reactions which are further enhanced by Ar due to additional ion-molecule reactions in which more H radicals are produced. A model for the plasma-surface interactions during deposition of mu-Si in the Ar + H2 + SiCl4 system is presented.
Large-scale models of plasmaspheric refilling have revealed that during the early stage of the refilling counterstreaming ion beams are a common feature. However, the instability of such ion beams and its effect on refilling remain unexplored. In order to learn the basic effects of ion beam instabilities on refilling, we have performed numerical simulations of the refilling of an artificial magnetic flux tube. (The shape and size of the tube are assumed so that the essential features of the refilling problem are kept in the simulation and at the same time the small scale processes driven by the ion beams are sufficiently resolved.) We have also studied the effect of commonly found equatorially trapped warm and/or hot plasma on the filling of a flux tube with a cold plasma. Three types of simulation runs have been performed.
The results are presented of a detailed study that examines the effects of cold plasma on the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Both electrostatic and electromagnetic modes are considered. The interest in the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability stems from observations of low frequency waves in the polar cusp, magnetopause, in fast moving auroral forms, the plasma pause, and other regions of magnetospheric flow boundaries. It is pointed out that the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is driven by a velocity shear and can excite a broad spectrum of wave frequencies below the ion gyrofrequency. A model is obtained of a flow boundary that includes a density gradient perpendicular to the velocity shear. The analysis shows a compressional component in Kelvin-Helmholtz waves.
Absorption of propagating waves impinging on a surface in which the plasma and magnetic field may change is investigated by examining in depth the problem of a combination of cold plasma, uniform magnetic field and a surface density which varies linearly from zero at the left end to some finite value at the right end, beyond which the density is constant. Two cases are considered: one in which the plasma is a vacuum everywhere to the left of the surface (which may correspond to coronal conditions) and one in which the plasma density jumps to a very large value to the left of the surface (which may mimic the magnetosphere with the dense region at the left corresponding to the plasmasphere). A complete discussion of the resonance absorption of propagating fast waves for the case considered by Kiveloson and Southwood (1986) is presented, emphasizing approximate analytical results whenever possible; these results are then compared with exact numerical solutions.
Secular and nonsecular behavior for nonlinear cold electron plasma equations
A one-dimensional electromagnetic particle simulation model is constructed to study the excitation of whistler waves in the presence of a cold plasma cloud for conditions representative of those after the release of lithium in the inner plasma sheet during the Combined Release and Radiation Effect Satellite mission. The results indicate that a standing-wave pattern with discrete wave frequencies is formed within the cloud. The magnetic wave amplitude inside the cloud, which is limited by quasi-linear diffusion, is of the order of several nanoteslas. Assuming a magnetospheric loss cone of 5 deg, the observed pitch angle diffusion produced by the whistler waves is sufficient to put the electrons on strong diffusion.
It is demonstrated that a self-consistent circularly polarized wave in an otherwise field-free homogeneous cold plasma is unstable to small amplitude perturbations. For either an electron-positron plasma or an electron-proton plasma the instability rate is at least about the order of the effective plasma frequency when the bulk flow speed is zero. For finite bulk flow speeds of the plasma, it is shown that the electron-positron plasma is unstable, again with a growth rate of the order of the effective plasma frequency; it is also shown that the electron-proton plasma is unstable (at least at small wave numbers, k) with a growth rate proportional to k. The calculated instability rates are conservative, for other modes not investigated here may be more unstable. The results of these calculations bear directly on the understanding of plasma systems thought to be driven by large amplitude waves.
Auroral arcs often extend for more than a thousand kilometers with little deviation of their relative position within the auroral oval. At high altitudes, the outer limits of the plasmasphere are usually marked by sharp decreases in the cold plasma densities. It is suggested that some auroral arcs follow the ionospheric trace of these boundary shells.
The linear Vlasov dispersion relation for the lower hybrid density drift instability is studied in a four component (hot electrons and protons, cold electrons and protons) plasma. The introduction of a cold ion population monotonically reduces the maximum growth rate of the instability. Reduction of the ratio of temperatures of the cold and hot plasmas reduces both the real frequency and the growth rate of the instability. Near a ratio of the cold and hot plasma temperatures of 0.01 a higher frequency branch of this instability emerges and for a fixed ratio of cold and hot electron density exhibits an increasing maximum growth rate as the ratio of the cold and hot plasma temperatures decreases further. The ratio of the cold and hot plasma temperatures for the ions is the crucial parameter and deserves detailed magnetospheric studies.
Higher order effects of electromagnetic wave, propagating in cold electron plasma
Vacuum spectrum modification theory for inverse Compton scattering in cold collisionless plasma
Nonlinear constant profile plane waves in cold Vlasov hydrogen plasma under influence of external magnetic field
The utilization of a cold or nonequilibrium plasma in chlorination processing is discussed. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) was successfully chlorinated at temperatures between 700 and 900 C without the aid of carbon. In addition to these initial experiments, a technique was developed for determining the temperature of a specimen in a plasma. Development of that technique has required evaluating the emissivity of TiO2, ZrO2, and FeOTiO2 and analyzing the specimen temperature in a plasma as a function of both power absorbed by the plasma and the pressure of the plasma. The mass spectrometer was also calibrated with TiCl4 and CCl4 vapor.
Input impedance of small loop of uniform electric current immersed in anisotropic cold magnetoplasma calculated by induced emf method
Hydrogen reduction of ilmenite has been studied by a number of investigators as a potential means for recovery of oxygen from lunar soil. Interest in this process has always rested with the simplicity of the flow diagram and the utilization of established technology. Effective utilization of hydrogen in the reduction process at temperatures of 1200 C and below has always been disappointing and, as such, has led other investigators to focus attention on other systems. Effective utilization of hydrogen in the reduction of ilmenite can be significantly enhanced in the presence of a non-equilibrium hydrogen plasma. Ilmenite at solid specimen temperatures of 600 C to 970 C were reacted in a hydrogen plasma. Those experiments revealed that hydrogen utilization can be significantly enhanced. At a specimen temperature of 850 C the fraction of H2 reacted was 24 percent compared to the 7 percent theoretical limit calculated with thermodynamic theory for the same temperature. An added advantage for a hydrogen plasma involves further reduction of TiO2. Reduction of the iron oxide in ilmenite yields TiO2 and metallic iron as by products. Titanium forms a number of oxides including TiO, Ti2O3, Ti3O5 and the Magneli oxides (Ti4O7 to Ti50O99). In conventional processing of ilmenite with hydrogen it is possible to reduce TiO2 to Ti7O13 within approximately an hour, but with poor utilization of hydrogen on the order of one mole of H2 per thousand. In the cold or non-equilibrium plasma TiO2 can be rapidly reduced to Ti2O3 with hydrogen utilization exceeding 10 percent. Based on design considerations of the plasma reactor greater utilization of the hydrogen in the reduction of TiO2 is possible.