Numerical simulation of a negative ion plasma expansion into vacuum

Abstract

The expansion into vacuum of a one-dimensional, collisionless, negative ion plasma is investigated in the framework of the Vlasov–Poisson model. The basic equations are written in a ‘‘new time space’’ by use of a rescaling transformation and, subsequently, solved numerically through a fully Eulerian code. As in the case of a two species plasma, the time-asymptotic regime is found to be self-similar with the temperature decreasing as t22. The numerical results exhibit clearly the physically expected effects produced by the variation of parameters such as initial temperatures, mass ratios and charge of the negative ions.