Ion-ion collisions and element separation effects in the boundary region of a plasma surrounded by neutral gas

Abstract

In the boundary region between a plasma and neutral gas, the temperature is low (some thousand degrees). Then the Coulomb cross-section is large compared with other collision cross-sections. The influence of ion-ion collisions in the boundary region is discussed. In particular a simple formula is derived for the separation between different kinds of constituents. This separation depends on different collision cross-sections for diffusion and seems to be especially large when resonant charge exchange collisions are involved. These diffusive processes of importance in impermeable plasmas are also compared with separation processes due to a difference in ionization potential, which is known to occur in permeable plasmas. Different isotopes have the same ionization potential and the same charge exchange cross-sections. The separation processes described above are, therefore, likely to give element, but not isotope, separation.