| 摘要 |
The RF-powered plasma accelerator/homogenizer produces a quiescent plasma having a generally homogenous preselected plasma potential VPA and a space-charge neutralized plasma beam. The plasma accelerator/homogenizer includes an RF-conductive accelerator/homogenizer structure (17) having a plurality of dielectric-coated accelerator/homogenizer surfaces (619) with total surface area ARF and a containment assembly that includes an RF-grounded structure (112) with a total ground surface area AG, where ARF>AG. The accelerator/homogenizer structure is reactively coupled to an RF source using various approaches for direct or stray capacitive coupling (16). The RF voltage induced on the accelerator/homogenizer surfaces oscillates around a positive offset voltage determined by (ARF/AG)x, where x is not greater than 4, and causes the surfaces to absorb thermal electrons from the diffusing primary plasma, producing a homogenous quiescent plasma at preselected plasma potential VPA, which is approximately equal to the positive value of the offset RF voltage.
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