plasma, or is it?*

We present experimental studies of  Bohm's Criterion for sheath formation in a single species Kr⁺ ion plasma in the vicinity of a negatively biased grid (-100V, with respect to chamber ground),  in a hot filament, DC discharge, multi-dipole device (length = 70 cm, diameter = 60 cm) at the University of San Diego,  in which a Kr discharge was operated with a neutral pressure of 0.1-0.5mTorr,  1 ≤ n_e ≤ 3 x10⁹ cm^-3 and T_e  ≈ 1-3 eV.  Our grid is approximately 50% transparent stainless steel mesh, approximately 25 lines/cm. Prior  measurements in a similar but smaller device  indicated that the first moment of the ion velocity distribution function (ivdf) was 0.8 (kT_e/M)^1/2  ± 6% at the sheath edge, as determined by diode laser based laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) together with emissive probe measurements analyzed by the inflection point method in the limit of zero emission. Our concern is whether ion flow counter to that of ions falling through the presheath of the grid, toward the grid,  alters sheath formation in some way. We plan to calibrate these results with measurements  (ivdf, plasma  potential, and density axial profiles) in the neighborhood of an opaque, solid, negatively biased plate free from counter streaming ions.