https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20135917009
Expansion of a plasma into vacuum with a bi-Maxwellian electron distribution function
Centre de Physique Théorique, École Polytechnique, CNRS, 91128 Palaiseau, France
Published online: 15 November 2013
A comprehensive theory is developped to describe the expansion of a plasma into a vacuum with a two-temperature electron distribution function. The characteristics of the rarefaction shock which occurs in the plasma when the hot- to the cold-electron temperature ratio is larger than 9.9 are investigated with a semi-infinite plasma. Furthermore by using a finite plasma foil, a possible heating of the cold electrons population is evidenced, for a sufficiently large hot- to the cold-electron density ratio.
© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2013
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
