Using Nanoparticles to Study the Axial Structure of a Gas Discharge

In this paper, we studied the retention of nanoparticles in a dc glow discharge, capacitively coupled, and bipolar pulsed discharges. It is shown that nanoparticles are formed and grow in plasma, and then deposited on the sample surface from certain parts of the discharges, in which there are potential wells in the axial distribution of the electric field. It is found that there is only one such potential well in dc glow and capacitively coupled discharges, while two wells are formed in a bipolar pulsed discharge. Using the scattering of a laser beam by clouds of nanoparticles confined in the plasma, the presence of these potential wells was confirmed.