New electrostatic probe for measuring the energy anisotropy of ions in a magnetized plasma

The possibility of measuring the anisotropic temperature of plasma ions by means of a new probe is described. The probe consists of an analyzing grid having a pinhole and an ion collector. Both ion temperatures parallel and perpendicular to a magnetic field, T/sub i/parallel T/sub i/perpendicular, respectively, are directly obtained from the semilogarithmic characteristics of the probe, performing the same procedure as in the case of a Langmuir probe. The plasma potential can be easily estimated from the point of inflexion of the probe characteristics