[P-CG11_28PO1] Instrumentation for space science

[PCG11-P04] Plasma properties of the space plasma operation chamber at NCKU in Taiwan

*Hui-kuan FANG¹, Yu-wei HSU², Wen-hao CHEN², Guo-hsiang JIANG², Koichiro OYAMA³, Chio CHENG³ (1.Department of Physics, National Cheng Kung University, 2.Institute of Space and Plasma Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, 3.Plasma and Space Science Center, National Cheng Kung University)

Keywords:Plasma properties, space plasma operation chamber, back-diffusion plasma source, retarding potential analyzer, electron temperature and density probe, Langmuir probe

The space plasma operation chamber (SPOC), a research facility designed to calibrate and test satellite/rocket-borne instruments and study space plasma processes, is constructed at NCKU in 2009. It is a cylindrical chamber of 2m in diameter and 3m in length. Plasma is produced by two back-diffusion type sources installed at the center of both chamber sides. The sources produce ions of controllable drifting energy from a few ten to several hundred eV and density up to 10⁶ cm^-3. These ions are neutralized by thermal electrons emitted from Nickel cathodes, and collide with neutral molecules in the chamber of pressure ~2.2×10^-4 Torr, and a plasma environment with ion temperature ~300K and electron temperature ~1000-3000K is formed in the chamber. This paper presents measurement results of a retarding potential analyzer (RPA), an electron temperature and density probe (TeNeP) and a Langmuir probe installed on the 2-axis moving system in SPOC. The thermal and beam component ion energy distributions at different distances from the ion source and the electron temperature/density spatial distributions in the SPOC will be presented. The collision process of ions with neutral molecules will also be discussed.