AVS 52nd International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Monday Sessions
       Session PS-MoM

Paper PS-MoM7
Spatial and Temporal Measurement of Electric Fields in a Plasma

Monday, October 31, 2005, 10:20 am, Room 302

Session: Plasma Diagnostics
Presenter: E.V. Barnat, Sandia National Laboratories
Correspondent: Click to Email

We employ laser-induced dip-fluorescence to detect Stark shifts of atomic argon Rydberg states induced by electric fields present in the plasma sheath. The choice of the probed Rydberg state determines the electric field range and resolution we can achieve. Using the experimentally calibrated behavior of the Rydberg levels, both spatially and temporally resolved maps of the electric fields are obtained above powered electrodes generating a plasma. Electric fields around a technologiclly relevant electrode are mesured and compared to fields measured around simplified electrode structures. Both maps of the electric fields as well as excition and ionization profiels around the electrode demonstrates how the surfaces couple to the plasma. @FootnoteText@ This work was supported by the Division of Material Sciences, BES, Office of Science, U. S. Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories, a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company for the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.