Plasma diagnostics with Langmuir probes in the equatorial ionosphere: I. The influence of surface contamination

Citation
A. Piel et al., Plasma diagnostics with Langmuir probes in the equatorial ionosphere: I. The influence of surface contamination, J PHYS D, 34(17), 2001, pp. 2643-2649
Citations number
25
Categorie Soggetti
Apllied Physucs/Condensed Matter/Materiales Science
Journal title
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS
ISSN journal
00223727 → ACNP
Volume
34
Issue
17
Year of publication
2001
Pages
2643 - 2649
Database
ISI
SICI code
0022-3727(20010907)34:17<2643:PDWLPI>2.0.ZU;2-6
Abstract
The application of spherical Langmuir probes for measuring the electron tem perature and density on ionospheric sounding rockets is discussed with resp ect to the influence of the geomagnetic field effects and probe contaminati on. The influence of the contamination layer is thoroughly analysed in the frame of a nonlinear equivalent circuit. When operating the probe in ramp m ode, it is found that the distortion of the current-voltage characteristic is different for decreasing and increasing probe voltages. The resulting er ror of the electron temperature is determined for a range of capacitance (C ) and resistance (R) values of the contamination layer. A method is describ ed to determine the parameters R and C from the flight data. Further, a cor rection algorithm is discussed that allows the true probe characteristic to be retrieved from the measured distorted characteristic.