Components of Impact Plasma: Velocity and Temperature | CU Experts

; <p>Impact ionization is a process of plasma generation upon hypervelocity impact of a small body (e.g., interplanetary dust grain) onto a solid surface. &#160;Such process may play an important role in astrochemistry. Understanding the plasma generation, we can clarify the interpretation of proclaimed dust impact detections onto antenna-equipped space experiments, which have become widely popular in the recent years.</p><p>We present the data gained in charge generation and collection experiments conducted at the University of Colorado IMPACT hypervelocity dust accelerator facility. The impacts are of sub-micrometer cosmic dust simulants onto a metal target in the range of velocities between 1 and 50 km/s. We discuss measured charge collection on a microsecond scale as well as aggregated results of electron and ion drift velocities and temperatures and specifically their dependence on the velocity of the impactor.</p>;

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