A Device for the Production of an Extended Homogeneous Field-Free Spherical Plasma

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Abstract
A new plasma source has been designed and tested which is capable of producing a stationary, quiescent spherical diffusion plasma of 69 cm diameter. This plasma is free of electric currents, and the electric fields in it can be kept below 10 mV/cm. Electron temperatures between 103 and 3×103 K and plasma densities between 108 and 1010 cm−3 were measured with a Langmuir probe in the pressure range 0.1–10−4 Torr. Radial variations of the plasma density smaller than 10% over about two thirds of the plasma radius were observed in argon at pressures between 10−2 and 10−4 Torr.