Usefulness of a Universal Electric-cusp Type Plasma Reactor in Basic Studies and a Variety of Applications in Dust Dynamics, Ionization and Discharge Physics Based on Electrohydrodynamics
A universal electriac-cusp type plasma reactor designed more than a decades ago by the present author has successfully been in operation for the last coupe of years and has been proved useful for basic studies and a variety of applications in dust dynamics, ionization and discharge physics, including laboratory simulation of universe, atmospheric and space electricity and plasmas, based on `Electrohydrodynamics (EHD)/Electromagnetohydrodynamics (EMHD). This paper aims to present the structure and operation of this plasma reactor and to show how this device is useful for basic studies and applications, citing a number of examples. The new device is a square box with two lead electrodes (15mm in diameter and 5 cm in interval) inside, suspended 2.75～5 cm above a metallic plate. When a tiny object or dust grain, conducting or dielectric, is placed in the cusp center, electric field line merging toward it occurs from the four or two poles, inducing or polarizing electric charges on its surface or in its volume, negative or positive facing positive or negative poles, respectively. Then a catastrophe occurs, namely zero-electric field without the object or dust suddenly tends to sufficiently high electric fields, almost infinity, around it. We are now ready to be advanced to one of entirely different two directions, depending upon the background gas pressure. One is the case of energy transfer from fields to kinetic energy leading to dust dynamics in a pair of electric mirror for the background gas pressure below the breakdown threshold, and the other is the case of energy transfer from fields to ionization resulting in an electric discharge for the background gas pressure beyond the breakdown threshold. First we deal with the former case. When an uncharged dust grain, conducting or dielectric, is placed onto the center of a quadrupole, dust starts moving between conjugating mirror points and is going back and forth undulating the mid-plane. If a dust grain is negatively or positively charged its motion in periodic cusps and mirrors in the midplane of a quadrupole forming an electric mirror. Next we proceed to three dimensional motion of an uncharged or charged dust grain not in the ecliptic plane of a quadrupole, Then the dust grain is going to helical motion due to helicity generation of an electric quadrupole. The second case when the background gas pressure is beyond the breakdown threshold leads to a variety of electric discharge phenomena, laboratory evidence of `electric cusp-mirror and reconnection model as well as the first case and provides basic studies of ionization and discharge processes, laboratory simulations of universe, atmospheric and space electric electricity and plasma phenomena, applications to industrial plasmas, including plasma processing, new material production such as diamond, electric precipitator and so on.
H.Kikuchi
Institute for Environmental Electromagnetics,3-8-18,Komagome,Toshima-ku,Tokyo 170,Japan
国际会议
Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium 2008(2008年电磁学研究新进展学术研讨会)(PIERS 2008)
杭州
英文
1-5
2008-03-24（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）