Bulk electron temperature measurements using Asymmetric Triple Langmuir probes

Langmuir probes are often used to obtain measurements of temperature and density in plasma. Many believe that the standard triple probe does not give a correct measurement of temperature since it samples only the fastest electrons, and that another type of probe needs to be designed that would sample more dominant, bulk, electrons in the plasma. My project this summer has been to make an asymmetric triple probe that would allow for the bulk measurements of temperature in the plasma and to test it in comparison to the standard triple probe. It also involved checking for the existence of drift waves in the gradient regions of plasma and testing probes’ sensitivity to temperature fluctuations.