Experimental investigation of the creation of a fire-rod by Langmuir and emissive probes

Positive voltage steps are applied to a plane electrode immersed in a weakly magnetized discharge plasma column with its surface perpendicular to the magnetic field lines. Steps of different amplitude are applied at various neutral gas pressures. If the amplitude of the voltage step and the gas pressure are high enough, additional discharge occurs in front of the anode and a fire-rod is created. In this work time development of the electron distribution function is measured using Langmuir and emissive probes. The formation of the anode plasma electron population is followed on the derivatives of the probe characteristics. Results obtained by Langmuir and emissive probes are compared and are found to be in good agreement. (author)