Control of a Non-equilibrium Plasma Jet by Applying the Magnetic Field : Effects of Magnetic Field Distribution

Abstract

Control of a non-equilibrium plasma jet by applying the magnetic field is investigated experimentally. This paper describes the characteristics of plasma parameters, excited temperature and thermofluid characteristics under different magnetic flux densities and under the magnetic field distributions of the mirror and the cusp types. With the increase of the magnetic flux density of the mirror-type, electron density, electron temperature and ion velocity increase rapidly, and furthermore, excited temperature, gas temperature and gas velocity increase slightly only in the core region. These may result from the confinement of electrons by magnetic lines of force, Lorentz force and induced electric field effect. However, the cusp-type magnetic field shows a slight effect on the plasma characteristics, compared to the case of the mirror-type. This implies the mirror-type magnetic field is far better than the cusp-type for controlling the characteristics of a plasma jet.