Debye Length

Adrian Down
January 22, 2007

1
1.1

Particle number density

Review

Previously, we used Boltzmanns law to express the number density n of a

species of particle in thermal equilibrium subject to a potential ,
n(r) = n0 e

q(r)
kT

In the quasi-nuetral situtaion, the number of ions ni and electrons ne are

approximately equal, ni ne n0 . However, the distribution of these
different kinds of particles are not necessarily unifrom in space in the quasineutral situtation, and so charge gradients and fields can still exist within
the plasma.

1.2

Example: Gaussian potential

Consider a Gaussian potential acting on a population of electrons. In this

case, the charge is q = e. The distribution of electrons is thus,
e

ne (r) = n0 e+ kT

The sign of the exponent indicates that there is an enhancement of the number of electrons in the region of the potential. This can be seen physically
from the electric field, which is the gradient of the potential. In all space,
the electric field points outwards from the peak of the potential, so the electrons, having negative charge, are drawn towards the potential, opposite of
the electric field.
1

2
2.1

Derivation and definition of the Debye length

Poissons equation

The previous example is not very physical. As soon as the distribution starts
to evolve, the change in the density n changes the potential . To find the
potential, we need Poissons equation,

E=
0

E = 2 =
0
is the charge density, which must take into account all species of particle.
Assuming the charge of the electrons and ions to be equal and opposite,
X
=
n s qs = n i e n e e
s

If ne and ni are equal and uniform, then there is complete cancellation. In

general though, this is not the case.
Note. In an inhomogenious medium, a tensor must be used to represent the
properties of the dielectric,

E
| {z } 0
D

2.2

Introduction of a test charge

We can consider a test change s placed in the plasma. Using the expressions
for the number density derived previously to express the number density,
= ni e ne e + s

 e
e

= en0 e kTi e kTe + s

Note. We allow for the case that Te 6= Ti .
In the one-dimensional case, Poissons equation with the inclusion of the
test charge is,
i
e(x)
2 (x)
n0 e h e(x)
kTi
kTe

=
e

e
+s
x2
0
2

2.3

Linearization

Finding an analytic solution to this equation is nontrivial. The physical

solution is to make an approximation and solve the equation in the resulting
e
 1, so
limit. To linearize the equation, make the approximation that kT
that the exponents can be expanded. This approximation corresponds to
kT  e, meaning that most particles in the plasma are free-streaming,
unaffected by the potential .
For small x, the exponential can be Taylor expanded,

e
kT
i

ex 1 + x
e
1
kTi

x1
e

e kTe 1 +

e
kTe

The linearize form of Poissons equation is,



n0 e
e
2
e
1
2 =
1
+s
x
0
kTi
kTe


1
n0 e2
1
+
+s
=
0
kTi kTi
The coefficient of the term can be considered a constant. By comparing
with the left side, it must have units of length squared. The Debye length is
defined as the square root of this constant. We can simplify the expression
further by defining an effective temperature,
1
1
1
=
+
Teff
Te Ti
The Debye length is then,
Definition (Debye length D ).
r
D =

0 kTeff
n0 e2

Note. In convenient units, the Debye length can be written,

s
T (eV)
D = 7.4
m
n (cm3 )
3

3
3.1

Interpretation of D : shielding
Introduction

Shielding in a plasma is often due primarily to the electrons in the plasma.

Consider electrons impinging on a surface. The flux of these electrons is
= nvth . The thermal velocity can be approximated by kinetic theory,
modulo a constant factor,
r

2
kT

vth
kT m v
m
Because of the dependance on the mass, the thermal velocity of the heavier ions is often much less than that of the electrons. Hence if there is a wall
in a container, the flux of electrons onto that wall will often be much higher
than that of ions. The accumulation of negative charge will form a sheath.
This effect is known as sheath theory, and it is presented in chapter 8 of the
text.

3.2
3.2.1

Differential equations
Possions equation

Poissons equation governs the formation and evolution of such a sheath of

charge,
1
2
=
+s
x2
2D
The presence of the constant factor s does not change that the solution to
this equation is exponential,
|x|

|x|

(x) = Ae D + Be D
where A and B are normalization constants. As a boundary condition, we
require that 0 as x , so A = 0.
3.2.2

Electric field

We can obtain an expression for the potential from the electric field E. To
do so, we assume that the test charge is actually a sheet that is infinite in
4

two demensions, so that s = s(x), where is a charge density. The electric

field accross this sheet of charge can then be obtained by integrating over a
Gaussian pillbox.
Z
Qenc
E dA =
0

E(O+) E(O) =
0

2E =
0
The constant B in the expression for is then fixed by the relationship
between E and . Taking x = 0, which corresponds to the location of the
sheet of charge,

x
B 0

=
e

20
D
D
B=
20
D |x|
(x) =
e D
20
E=

In position space, (x) decays exponentially away from the sheet of

charge. The scale length of the exponential decay is D . Hence the Debye length is the scale length to which a charge in the plasma is shielded.
Note.

D is inversely proportional to n0 , and hence the shielding length

decreases as the density increases. This results because there are more
electrons to cancel an existing change distribution, and hence a shorter
length scale to reach neutrality in the plasma, as the density of the
plasma increases.

It is left as an exercise to derive the full three-dimensional case. The

answer is,
q r
(r) = e D
r
This is often called the Yukawa potential in nuclear physics.
5

3.3

Collective behavior

Shielding is the first example we have seen of collective behavior in a plasma.

If something is introduced to the plasma system to perturb it, the particles of
the plasma respond and rearrange themselves to maintain charge neutrality.
Recall that exhibitng collective behavior was one of the characteristics listed
in the definition of a plasma.
All of the previous work was based on the assumption that the Boltzmann
distribution is applicable. The system cannot exhibit collective behavior
if the number of particles in the system is too small and the Boltzmann
statistics break down. There are a few order of magnitude estimates that can
be used to determine when a plasma can be expected to exhibit collective
behavior.


ND = n 0

4 3

3 D


1

ND is representative of the number of particles in a sphere with radius

equal to the Debye length.

D  L
where L is the characteristic scale of the system.
Note. The Debye length is the smallest natural scale in the plasma.
This is because every particle in the plasma is effectively shielding
every other plasma on the Debye scale.

 1
is the characteristic frequency of the system, and is the time between collisions. The meaning of this will become more clear later in
the course.
Some examples of plasma parameters are in table 1.
6

Interstellar space
Solar wind
Ionosphere
Corona
Fusion
Stellar interior

n (cm3 ) T (eV)
B (G)
1
1
105
10
5
104
105
0.1
0.5
106
100
5
11
4
10
10
104
27
3
10
10 unknown

Table 1: Examples of plasma parameters