Quasineutral particle simulation/Monte Carlo model of magnetized plasma discharges

Summary form only given. In quasineutral plasmas it is difficult and inefficient, indeed unnatural, to calculate the electrostatic field from Poisson's equation. We have developed a particle-in-cell-Monte Carlo (PIC/MC) simulation method in which the electric fields within the bulk plasma are determined directly from the requirement of quasineutrality. In the case of a discharge in contact with material walls, the sheaths are treated as thin potential barriers, and the sheath potentials are also calculated self-consistently from the requirement of quasineutrality. The Bohm criterion for ion flux into the sheath is imposed as a boundary condition. Thus the entire discharge can be modeled without the use of Poisson's equation. Electron plasma oscillations do not appear in the model, and the Debye length is essentially set to zero, so short temporal and spatial scales are excluded. This focuses the model on the macroscopic time and space scales of interest, and affords great efficiency in numerical simulation.