1.
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys
; 63(3 Pt 2): 036406, 2001 Mar.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-11308774
ABSTRACT
Microrods were levitated in the collisional sheath of a rf plasma. Rods below a critical length settle vertically, parallel to the electric field, while longer rods float horizontally. Usually rods with other inclinations spin about a vertical axis. These experimental features fit well with a model that includes a theoretical profile for the sheath, a plasma model for the screening length, which increases going deeper in the sheath, and a plasma theory for the charging of the rod's elements. Despite the agreement this paper highlights the need for a better understanding of the charging mechanism of bodies in sheaths and of the transition region in collisional sheaths.