The Triple Plasma Device in Room B01 has proven to be one of the most versitile pieces of equipment used in our research. Able to be configured in a number of different ways, the TPD has been used to research magnetic cusp confinement, double layer formation and behavior, anode double layers, and dusty plasmas. This device can be used to produce double layers by applying a bias voltage, V12 between the two independently produced plasmas. The double layer forms in the central chamber.
The TPD was also used in an experiment investigating the production of double layers in a plasma with negative ions. The negative ions were produced by introducing SF6 into the plasma. In such a plasma, multiple double layers were observed. This is described in a 1990 paper in Physics of Plasmas by Merlino and Loomis (PDF).