Direct Display of Electron Temperature in Magnetized and Time Varying Plasmas

Abstract

A method of direct display of electron temperature, which uses three closely spaced Langmuir probes at constant biases, is presented. Ion components of probe currents, which are relatively large in magnetized plasmas, are subtracted in the probe circuit. Direct display of the local value of the electron temperature is possible without any sweeping to the probe voltage. The sources of error are known and their effect can be readily evaluated during the experiment. Measurements of electron temperature in a P. I. G. discharge in hydrogen is presented as an example of application of this method.