Sheath structure of a probe in a flowing magnetoplasma

Summary form only given, as follows. Distributions of plasma and fields near an electric probe in a flowing magnetoplasma are studied by means of 3-D numerical simulations. The flowing plasma represents the relative motion of the probe with respect to the plasma, as imposed by the orbital motion in space. The field distribution shows wings of a resonance-cone like structure, analogous to the whistler wings created by a moving electrode in a laboratory plasma. In addition to the wings, the relative motion also creates a "bow shock" in front of a positive probe along with the usual wake with negative potentials in its back. The relative motion significantly enhances the current collection by the positive probe over the upper-bound current given by the conservation of the canonical angular momentum in a stationary plasma.