NEGATIVE POWER ABSORPTION IN INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA

We report an observation of negative power absorption of electromagnet ic field in a low-pressure cylindrical inductive discharge. The spatia l distribution of the absorbed power is found experimentally from meas urement of the azimuthal rf electric field and current, and theoretica lly by solving the Maxwell-Boltzmann equations by Fourier method. It a ppears that plasma electrons electromagnetic energy in the skin layer, can apparently return a part of their energy to the rf field deeper i nto the plasma.