Experimental study of electron and ion temperatures in impact plasmas

Title: Experimental study of electron and ion temperatures in impact plasmas Author: Samuel Kočiščák Department: Department of Surface and Plasma Science - DSPS Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Jiří Pavlů, Ph.D., DSPS Abstract: In-situ analysis of a hypervelocity grain impact is a complex discipline, making use of multiple physical phenomena. An important one, if not the most important one, being a dust impact ionisation. Future experiments could benefit substantially from better understanding of the phenomenon. The goal of this work was a study of the impact ionisation per-se, with the objective: to experimentally determine the effective temperatures of post-impact charged ejecta. Importance of this parameter is obvious, although different approaches scarcely ever report similar results. Our way was the analysis in a retarding potential analyzer. Firstly, large data set of laboratory data from dust accelerator was analyzed, secondly a Monte Carlo study of the results and the analyzer itself was performed. Lastly, recommendations for future in-situ experiments are provided based on our results. Keywords: impact plasmas cosmic dust impact ionizatio