Continuum Kinetic and Multi-Fluid Simulations of Classical Sheaths

Abstract: The kinetic study of plasma sheaths is critical, among other things, to understand the deposition of heat on walls, the effect of sputtering, and contamination of the plasma with detrimental impurities. The plasma sheath also provides a boundary condition and can often have a significant global impact on the bulk plasma. In this paper, kinetic studies of classical sheaths are performed with the continuum code, Gkeyll, that directly solves the Vlasov-Poisson/Maxwell equations. The code uses a novel version of the finite-element discontinuous Galerkin (DG) scheme that conserves energy in the continuous-time limit. The electrostatic field is computed using the Poisson equation. Ionization and scattering collisions are included, however, surface effects are neglected. The aim of this work is to introduce the continuum-kinetic method and compare its results to those obtained from an already established finite-volume multi-fluid model also implemented in Gkeyll. Novel boundary conditions on the fluids allow the sheath to form without specifying wall fluxes, so the fluids and fields adjust self-consistently at the wall. The work presented here demonstrates that the kinetic and fluid results are in agreement for the momentum flux, showing that in certain regimes, a multi-fluid model can be a useful approximation for simulating the plasma boundary. There are differences in the electrostatic potential between the fluid and kinetic results. Further, the direct solutions of the distribution function presented here highlight the non-Maxwellian distribution of electrons in the sheath, emphasizing the need for a kinetic model.