Magnetized plasma-wall transition and its effect on wall sputtering and erosion

A Vlasov-Poisson code is used in this study to model the transition region between the equilibrium plasma and an absorbing wall in the presence of a tilted magnetic field for a weakly collisional plasma. The phase space structure of the plasma-wall transition is analyzed in detail and theoretical estimates of the magnetic presheath width are tested numerically. Simulations show that even for relatively strong magnetic fields, the average angle of incidence of the impinging ions is never as grazing as the angle between the magnetic field and the wall. This is due to the electric field that manages to partially redirect the ions along the direction normal to the surface.