Plasma simulation with a dielectric object in the presence of an ion flow

Recent dusty plasma experiments have investigated the crystallization of dust grains near the edge of a plasma sheath. Some theories were proposed to explain the crystallization mechanisms. The purpose of this simulation work is to study the electrostatics of a dielectric object immersed in a plasma sheath where the ion flow velocity is greater than the ion acoustic velocity, utilizing the object-oriented particle-incell code called XOOPIC developed at UC-Berkeley.

This simulation is designed to investigate the polarization in a charging process and the electrostatic traps downstream of an object caused by an ion flow in a plasma discharge. Both the polarization and electrostatic traps in the wake field are considered important factors in the formation of plasma crystals. In this thesis, the simulation model based on the XOOPIC code is established, and the simulation results on wake potentials and polarization are obtained and analyzed. This simulation work was completed on the Sun workstation in the Department of Electrical Engineering at TTU.