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Asymmetry reversal of ion collection by mach probes in flowing unmagnetized plasmas

Measurements of ion current in flowing unmagnetized plasmas were performed with planar and spherical Mach probes in two different devices, one a dc multi-dipole plasma device for subsonic flow within a presheath region and the other a double plasma device for supersonic flow. Asymmetry reversal, which is higher ion current to the downstream side of the probe compared with the upstream side current, was observed for high probe bias compared with the electron temperature, relatively low ion drift velocity and Debye length comparable to probe radius. These data are in qualitative agreement with a recent numerical calculation by Hutchinson. As suggested by Hutchinson, it was found that the current ratio depended on the plasma parameters, especially for finite Debye length and high probe bias. Asymmetry reversal emphasizes the lack of validity of using the current ratio except for narrow parameter ranges. This study is the first experiment to demonstrate the non-intuitive phenomenon predicted by Hutchinson's numerical calculation.