Self-consistent discharge characteristics of collisional helicon plasmas

The steady-state fluid equations and Maxwell's equations are solved self-consistently in helicon plasmas. When the Trivelpiece-Gould mode dominates the power transfer, the density profile is relatively flat in the central region compared to the case where there is significant bulk heating by the helicon wave. It is shown that the density changes from a relatively flat to steep profile at a certain value of the magnetic field, and this is related to the mode coupling and decoupling of the helicon and Trivelpiece-Gould modes. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.