Noncontact diagnostics of remote anisotropic plasmas

A new noncontact method for diagnostics of nonequilibrium plasma that integrates technologies of optical-and-magnetic technique of the Hanley effect and those of probe investigations is proposed. The method mentioned has been experimentally tested in plasmas with cardinally dissimilar structure of the electron velocity distribution function. As a model plasma object the positive column of glow discharge has been studied and as a distant object a short low-voltage beam discharge. The following potentialities of this method were illustrated, viz. in the distant object the complete electron velocity distribution function was determined and the diagram of electron pressure angular anisotropy was constructed. Verification of the method accuracy was carried out using the technique of flat single-sided probe. (paper)