Nanoparticles as Probes of the Electron Energy Relaxation Length in a DC Glow Discharge
Abstract
A new method is proposed for determining the electron energy relaxation length in a DC glow discharge using nanoparticles as diagnostic probes. The method is based on nanoparticle confinement near the first field reversal point in the negative glow. At this position, a local maximum of the plasma potential forms a shallow potential pit for negatively charged nanoparticles. The position of the field reversal point can therefore be determined from the location of a nanoparticle cloud visualized by laser light scattering. Together with the measured cathode-layer thickness and the known interelectrode distance, this allows the electron energy relaxation length to be estimated using an analytical relation between these quantities. The method was demonstrated experimentally in an acetylene discharge, where nanoparticles are naturally formed by plasma polymerization. The electron energy relaxation length was found to increase, on average, with increasing discharge voltage. The experimentally estimated values were approximately 1.5 times larger than those calculated using an analytical model based on the first Townsend ionization coefficient. The discrepancy may partly result from the assumption of a constant electric field in the cathode layer adopted in the analytical model. The proposed method can also be extended to gases that do not form nanoparticles naturally by introducing preformed nanoparticles or by producing them initially in a suitable gas mixture.
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