Microparticles in a Collisional Rf Plasma Sheath under Hypergravity Conditions as Probes for the Electric Field Strength and the Particle Charge

Abstract

We used microparticles under hypergravity conditions, induced by a centrifuge, in order to measure nonintrusively and spatially resolved the electric field strength as well as the particle charge in the collisional rf plasma sheath. The measured electric field strengths demonstrate good agreement with the literature, while the particle charge shows decreasing values towards the electrode. We demonstrate that it is indeed possible to measure these important quantities without changing or disturbing the plasma.