A study of wakes in ionospheric plasma

The aim of this thesis is to study wakes behind a cylindrical Langmuir probe. Such probes are used to extract important plasma parameters such as electron density and electron temperature. The study is conducted in a laboratory environment, consisting of a vacuum chamber and a plasma source producing a plasma with similar properties to the ionosphere. The goals of the study are (1) to quantify the dimensions of the wake in length and width; (2) to observe how the wake is affected by different probe potentials; and (3) to look at any effects a wake can inflict on measurements and calculations. In order to study the wake, one probe is placed in front of the plasma source (the object), while another probe (the measurement probe) is moved to different positions within the plasma chamber with the help of a movable table.