On the surface tension of plasmas

Author

Hora, Heinrich ; Min, Gu ; Eliezer, Shalom ; Lalousis, Paraskevas ; Pease, Rendel S. ; Szichman, Henry

Author_Institution

Dept. of Theor. Phys., New South Wales Univ., Kensington, NSW, Australia

Volume

17

Issue

2

fYear

1989

fDate

4/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

284

Lastpage

289

Abstract

The electric field energy in the inhomogeneous surface of a plasma (due to the presence of a double layer at the surface) divided by the surface area defines a surface tension. Two cases of interest are studied. First, the magnitude of the surface tension for a thermally produced double plasma layer is evaluated. Secondly, the surface tension for a double layer at the surface of a degenerate electron gas in a metallic ion lattice is evaluated. The results are in fair agreement with the measured surface tensions. A numerical hydrodynamic evaluation of the surface tension for the particular case of laser-plasma interaction is given, as well as discussions on the stabilization of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability and the charging of spherical plasmas. The theory may find application to laboratory and cosmic plasmas when regions of different plasma densities and temperatures are sufficiently delineated by thin surfaces of charge separation

Keywords

plasma instability; plasma sheaths; surface tension; Rayleigh-Taylor instability; charge separation; charging; cosmic plasmas; degenerate electron gas; densities; double layer; electric field energy; inhomogeneous surface; laser-plasma interaction; metallic ion lattice; numerical hydrodynamic evaluation; plasma sheath; spherical plasmas; stabilization; surface area; surface tension; temperatures; Electrons; Gas lasers; Hydrodynamics; Lattices; Nonuniform electric fields; Plasma applications; Plasma density; Plasma measurements; Plasma temperature; Surface tension;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/27.24637

Filename

24637