Interpretation of a Planar Langmuir Probe Current — Voltage Characteristic in a Strong Magnetic Field

Abstract

Abstract A theory of current collection by a planar Langmuir probe in a strong magnetic field with the direction perpendicular to the probe surface based on the models of Stangeby (J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 15 (1982) 1007) and Stanojevic et al. (Contrib. Plasma Phys. 33 (1993) 241) is presented. Besides the possibility of deriving the plasma density, n 0 , the electron temperature, T e , and the cross‐field diffusion coefficient, D 1 , from the measured probe characteristic reported in the previous studies, experiments in a strongly magnetized D.C. discharge argon plasma showed the applicability of this theory also for deriving the ion temperature, T i .