The Sheath Exploration Experimental Device (SEED) at UW Madison – a new device to investigate generalized sheath boundary plasmas

The construction of the Sheath Experiment and Exploration Device (SEED) at UW Madison has been finished. It will be used to investigate sheath structure under various plasma conditions. The device consists of a source chamber and a target chamber. Plasmas can be produced within the liner of each chamber by thermionic electrons which are emitted from the biased filaments. A 15-cm-diameter stainless steel plate is placed in the target chamber to create various boundary conditions. Diagnostic tools such as Langmuir probes, emissive probes, and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) are implemented to measure plasma parameters. The latest status of the device and preliminary data will be presented here.