Convective flow zones in filament-discharge plasma sources

Convective flow zones were found to surround the discharge current in an electron-beam generated argon plasma. Flow zones were created by the electric field associated with the injected electron beam. A sheet-beam was injected along a confining magnetic field. The discharge current and voltage were varied, and the ion flow near the beam was studied via laser-induced fluorescence. It was observed that the drift velocity, and thus the inferred electric field, was nearly constant even with increasing current, yet the electron density of the beam did increase