Van der Pol behavior of virtual anode oscillations in the sheath around a grid in a double plasma device

Experiments are reported on oscillations that arise in a double plasma device when plasma production is restricted to the source chamber and the separating grid between the two chambers is biased negatively. The free oscillating system shows periodic pulling which is a typical behavior of driven van der Pol type oscillators. The second interacting frequency is identified to be half the ion plasma frequency at the sheath edge on the source side. With the help of particle in cell simulations the concept of virtual anode oscillations (VAO's) as the underlying oscillation mechanism is investigated and the van der pol character of these is revealed. When applied to the experimental conditions, the VAO-model predicts correct oscillation frequencies. It gives a new interpretation of the scaling of these with plasma density and grid bias, and is compatible with earlier findings. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.