A Survey of Collisional - Flowing Electrostatic Probe Theories.

Abstract : The available literature on electrostatic probes was surveyed in an attempt to find an existing theory that was general and applicable to supersonic flowing plasma of the type available at AFFDL/FDCL-WPAFB, Ohio. The search indicates that there has been essentially no adequate exploration of the use of Langmuir probes in a flowing plasma that is compressible and hence collisional in nature. Several theories have been developed to interpret the probe characteristics for various plasma conditions. But, a unifying general theory is still wanting. (Author)