Mechanism behind self-sustained oscillations in direct current glow discharges and dusty plasmas

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new mechanism for self-sustained oscillations in DC glow discharges and dusty plasmas, attributing it to ion-surface charge interactions rather than photoionization feedback, explaining phenomena like plasma fireballs.

Contribution

It introduces an alternative explanation based on ion-surface charge interactions, differing from fluid models, and unifies understanding of oscillations in glow discharges and dusty plasmas.

Findings

Oscillation frequencies increase with ion surface charge density.

The mechanism explains why oscillations occur only in the negative resistance region.

It accounts for formation of plasma fireballs in laboratory plasmas.

Abstract

An alternative explanation to the mechanism behind self-sustained oscillations of ions in direct current (DC) glow discharges is provided. Such description is distinguished from the one provided by the fluid models, where oscillations are attributed to the positive feedback mechanism associated with photoionization of particles and photoemission of electrons from the cathode. Here, oscillations arise as consequence of interaction between an ion and the surface charges induced by it at the bounding electrodes. Such mechanism provides an elegant explanation to why self-sustained oscillations occur only in the negative resistance region of the voltage-current characteristic curve in the DC glow discharges. Furthermore, this alternative description provides an elegant explanation to the formation of plasma fireballs in the laboratory plasma. It has been found that oscillation frequencies increase with ion's surface charge density, but at the rate which is significantly slower than it does with the electric field. The presented mechanism also describes self-sustained oscillations of ions in dusty plasmas, which demonstrates that self-sustained oscillations in dusty plasmas and DC glow discharges involve common physical processes.