Maxwell demon and its instabilities

Summary form only given. Previous experiments[1] have shown that in a low pressure, low temperature plasma, positively biasing an array of thin wires can increase electron temperature by creating an angular momentum trap to absorb cold electrons. In this experiment, such a Maxwell demon device was reproduced by welding 0.025mm tungsten wires onto stainless steel shafts, which were then covered with ceramic. This device was used to more than double the plasma electron temperatures in a multi-dipole chamber operating in the mTorr regime. Moreover, the demon is observed to reduce the cold electron population in a plasma with a bi-Maxwellian electron distribution, leaving a single Maxwellian electron distribution. However, at high positive voltage, instabilities in the kHz range prevent acquisition of meaningful temperature data. The conditions of this instability are investigated by varying neutral pressure, plasma density and applied voltage up to 150V in an argon plasma.