NONLINEAR PERMITTIVITY OF SURFACE-WAVE PRODUCED PLASMAS

The origin of the nonlinearity of plasma permittivity in high-frequency discharges maintained by ionizing surface waves is studied. It is shown that in a diffusion controlled regime the plasma density at the discharge axis is determined nonlocally in terms of the electric field intensity by accounting for the small nonlinear effect of recombination, along with diffusion in the particle balance equation. The axial selfconsistent distribution of the surface wave field intensity and of the plasma density of discharges are obtained. The transition to a 'pure' diffusion and a 'pure' recombination regime is considered. A brief discussion is included regarding the case of a nonlinearity due to a weak dependence of the ionization frequency on the plasma density (e.g. due to stepwise processes).