Eur. Phys. J. D 53, 319-328 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2009-00145-2

On existence of the spatial charge layers in plasma with regions of rapid growth of the ionization rate

Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis of RAS, Moscow, Russia

Corresponding author: ^a lebedev@ips.ac.ru

Received: 10 November 2008
Revised: 27 March 2009
Published online: 8 May 2009

Abstract

1D quasi-static self-consistent model of nonequilibrium nitrogen and oxygen plasma with highly non-uniform spatial distribution of the electric field strength is used for analysis of the correlation of ionization rate profile and charged particles profiles. It is shown that inside a region of local increase of the ionization rate the layers with violation of quasi-neutrality can exist. This leads to the appearance of local static electric fields. Special attention is devoted to plasma resonance regions in microwave plasma. The role of negative ions is also studied.