AN END EFFECT ASSOCIATED WITH CYLINDRICAL LANGMUIR PROBES ON THE EXPLORER ⅩⅦ

摘要

An anomaly has been observed in the ion current response of the cylindrical Langmuir probe carried aboard the Explorer XVII satellite. The anomaly consisted of a narrow peak with an amplitude greater than twice the normal response, when the axis of the probe was oriented parallel or nearly parallel to the velocity vector of the satellite. Bettinger (1966) has proposed that the source of the anomaly was the ion current entering through the end of the plasma sheath surrounding the probe and has derived an expression for this end effect current. Analysis of the Explorer XVII data in the present work showed good agreement with the end effect expression.