Modeling Intense-Electron-Beam Generated Plasmas Using a Rigid-Beam Approximation
Abstract
A model of an electron-beam-plasma system is introduced to model the electrical breakdown physics of low-pressure nitrogen irradiated by an intense pulsed electron beam. The rapidly rising beam current induces an electric field which drives a return current in the plasma. The rigid-beam model is a reduction of the problem geometry to cylindrical coordinates and simplifications to Maxwell's equations that are driven by a prescribed electron beam current density. The model is convenient for comparing various reductions of the plasma dynamics and plasma chemistry while maintaining a good approximation to the overall magnitude of the beam-created electric field. The usefulness of this model is demonstrated by coupling the rigid-beam model to a fluid plasma model and a simplified nitrogen plasma chemistry. The dynamics of this coupled system are computed for a range of background gas pressures, and the results are compared with experimental measurements. At pressures 1 Torr and above, the simulated line-integrated electron densities are within a factor of two of measurements, and show the same trend with pressure as observed in experiment.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2108.10745,
title = {Modeling Intense-Electron-Beam Generated Plasmas Using a Rigid-Beam Approximation},
author = {A. S. Richardson and S. B. Swanekamp and N. D. Isner and D. D. Hinshelwood and D. Mosher and P. E. Adamson and I. M. Rittersdorf and Tz. B. Petrova and D. J. Watkins},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.10745},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in Physics of Plasmas