High energy electron generation in surface-wave-produced plasmas

Abstract

A theoretical model predicting production of hot electrons in the high-frequency field of surface-wave-produced plasmas is presented. The fast-particle generation is caused by the radial component of the surface-wave electric field near the boundary of the discharge by a mechanism so far not considered. As a result of acceleration, due to the interaction with the surface-wave field and due to energy loss by excitation and ionization of atoms in the main volume of the plasma, hot-electron tail of the energy distribution function is formed. The proposed mechanism of hot-electron generation is described for cases when the wave frequency is larger than the electron collision frequency.