A theoretical model, generation, and diagnostics of a large-volume plasma

Summary form only given, as follows. A simple, new scheme to generate a uniform, steady-state, large-volume plasma is presented. The weakly magnetized plasma, is created by direct ionization of the background gas by low-energy electrons generated from thermionic filaments, which are arranged annularly. In order to explain the experimental observations, we have developed a bulk plasma theory based on plasma transport cross-field diffusion. The bulk plasma experiment is conducted in a cylindrical stainless chamber with a radius of 50 cm and a length of 3 in. We measured the radial and axial profiles of plasma density with different discharge currents using a Langmuir probe. We also observed the experimental data to agree approximately with theoretical predictions.