Plasma Sheath Processes.

A model of the plasma sheath in high pressure ionized gas flows is presented. Nonequilibrium electron energy distributions are determined from a numerical solution of the collisional Boltzmann equation in the presence of strong field and density gradients. Self-consistent coupling to the electric field, ion kinetics and gas dynamics is included. In subsonic flows, the sheath and the boundary layer can be treated independently. A stability analysis indicates two forms of thermal instability occur in the cathode sheath at high pressures. Author