Reflection of ion-acoustic waves from bipolar potential structures

Reflection of ion-acoustic waves from the ion sheath in front of the separation grid in a double-plasma device has been investigated experimentally. The plasma potential φ of the source plasma was controlled relative to that of the target plasma. When eφ < - KT e, where Te is the electron temperature, no reflection was observed. The reason for this is that ions are drifting towards the grid with the Bohm velocity, i.e. the ion-acoustic velocity. When eφ > KTe the reflected wave consists of the ion-acoustic wave and the ion beam mode. The reflection coefficient for the ion-acoustic wave is about unity. This high efficiency is due to reflection of the ions themselves. (author)