Ionization Phenomena in a Gas-Particle Plasma

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Abstract
Particles in a plasma can appreciably change the electron density from the value it would assume if the particles were not present. The case of pure particle ionization, in which there is only thermionic emission from the particles and no gas ionization, is first considered. It is established that the potential and the charge distributions can be divided into a strong shielding regime, in which most of the free electrons are packed close to the particle surfaces in regions of high potential, and its direct opposite, a weak shielding regime. In both regimes, the free‐electron content of the plasma is most readily altered by variations in the particle size, rather than in the work function or particle temperature. The suppression of one form of ionization by the other when both particle and gas contribution to the electron density are comparable is next investigated. In the case of gaseous ionization enhancement it is shown that, if the thermionically emitting particles are hotter than the gas, the electron temperature will also be higher than that of the gas and the gaseous ionization thereby enhanced. Lastly, it is shown that in some transient situations, the particles are able to control the time rate of change of the electron density.