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Updated: Dec 24, 2025

Building Langmuir Probes and Emissive Probes for Plasma Potential Measurements in Low Pressure, Low Temperature Plasmas
Published on: May 25, 2021
Formation of inverse electron distribution function and absolute negative conductivity in nonlocal plasma of a dc
Chengxun Yuan1, Jingfeng Yao1, E A Bogdanov1,2
1Department of Physics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
Abstract:
The inversion of the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) at low energies and the absolute negative electron conductivity are predicted and confirmed by numerical modeling of a direct current glow discharge in argon. It is shown that, in contrast to the local approximation used earlier for searching the inverse EEDF, in a real gas-discharge plasma, the formation of the EEDF is significantly affected by the terms with spatial gradients in the Boltzmann kinetic equation. In analogy with the inverse population of excited states in lasers, such a medium will amplify electromagnetic waves.
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