Dust particle charge screening in the dry-air plasma produced by an external ionization source

The ionic composition of the plasma produced by an external ionization source in dry air at atmospheric pressure and room temperature and the screening of the electric field of a dust particle in such a plasma have been investigated. The point sink model based on the diffusion-drift approximation has been used to solve the screening problem. We have established that the main species of ions in the plasma under consideration are O4+, O2-, and O4- and that the dust particle potential distribution is described by a superposition of four exponentials with four different constants. We show that the first constant coincides with the inverse Debye length, the second is described by the inverse ambipolar diffusion length of the positive and negative plasma components in the characteristic time of their recombination, the third is determined by the conversion of negative ions, and the fourth is determined by the attachment and recombination of electrons and diatomic ions.