Plasma-satellites due to evanescent wave fields and plasma oscillations in thepulsed hollow-cathode

摘要

The different discharge regimes of the double-plate hollow-cathode are analyzed with respect tothe strong plasma oscillations found there. Below spiking threshold ions of a high radial velocityare responsible for the rapidly growing plasma core. Then a Lorentzian line shape indicatingcritical damping over one oscillation is found for the plasma-satellites. Above spiking thresholdthese transverse wave fields are no more excited between both resonant cathode plates, ratherthey get replaced by longitudinal fields at the plasma frequency. A collective atomic transitionmodel is presented for the plasma-satellites, which is based on the Thomson dc-polarizability ofan elastically bound optical transition electron. Because the local phases of the dielectric modepolarizations are randomly distributed on grounds of collisions, this relaxation replaces theassumed arbitrary Langmuir field direction of Baranger and Mozer.