Accounting for electron reflection and secondary emission in probe measurements of electron energy distribution function in plasma

A method is suggested for measuring the apparatus function to account for the effect of reflection and emission of electrons on results of probe measurements in a plasma. The experimental method of determining the apparatus function consists in the following. A monokinetic group of electrons with the energy width of approximately 0.1 eV appears in the after-glow plasma of inert gases due to the second order collisions of Maxwell electrons with metastable atoms. Consequently, the measurement of the velocity distribution function of electrons in the excitation energy range of a metastable level makes it possible to determine the apparatus function. Estimates are presented of the role of reflection and secondary emission of electrons in measuring the distribution function by a molybdenum probe purified by ion bombardment