Vlasov simulations of plasma-wall interactions in a weakly collisional plasma Original Research Article

An Eulerian Vlasov code is used to model plasma-wall interactions in a weakly collisional plasma. The different numerical methods used to solve the Vlasov and Poisson equations are described in detail. The code is used to simulate measurements of the ion distribution and ion temperature in a low-pressure argon plasma. In particular, it is shown that the presence of material walls can lead to significant errors in the measurements, if the effect of the sheaths is not properly taken into account.