Speaker
Description
Plasma fireball and dominant instabilities: A brief overview
Subham Dutta and Pralay Kumar Karmakar
Department of Physics, Tezpur University, Napaam-784028, Tezpur, Assam, India
Email: subham.dtta@gmail.com, subhamd@tezu.ernet.in
Abstract: An externally biased electrode submerged in a plasma chamber excites a plethora of waves and instabilities [1]. One of the special outcomes of this plasma-electrode interaction is the formation of a bright glow around the centred electrode, termed as plasma fireball (FB), which forms a topic of great research interest of applied value [2]. The plasma FB glows due to the energy release of the excited neutrals through the visible electromagnetic radiation. The neutrals get excited due to their inelastic collision with the field-drifted electrons across the plasma sheath formed around the submerged electrode in the plasma system [3]. The electrons drift in response to the intrinsic electric field across the plasma sheath. The charge-neutral collisions excite the latter almost up to its ionisation potential, which is released subsequently as bright FB glow. The formation and growth of the FB excites a plethora of waves and instabilities across the plasma sheath and double layer around the electrode externally [4]. A brief account of these diverse instabilities, excitation, and damping mechanisms, with panoptic views of their applications in multiple domains of practical importance is summarily presented.
References:
[1] S Dutta, PK Karmakar. Plasma fireball instability. J. Astrophys. Astron. 2022;43(64); 1-8.
[2] RL Stenzel, C Ionita, R Scrittwieser. Dynamics of fireball. Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 2008;17(035006):1-11.
[3] RL Stenzel, C Ionita, R Scrittwieser. Plasma fireballs. IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 2008;36(4):1000-1001.
[4] RL Stenzel, J Gruenwald, C Ionita, R Scrittwieser, JM Urrutia. Sheaths and double layers with instabilities. J. Technol. Space Plasmas. 2021;2(1):70-91.
