Sound Wave Propagation in Gases at Low

Pressure
Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 669, 113 (2003); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1593879
Published Online: 08 July 2003

T. Tonogaki, N. Ohno, S. Takamura, and A. Tsushima

AIP Conference Proceedings 669, 113 (2003); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1593879 669, 113

© 2003 American Institute of Physics.

 Sound Wave Propagation in Gases at Low Pressure
T. Tonogaki∗ , N. Ohno∗ , S. Takamura∗ and A. Tsushima†
∗
Department of Energy Engineering and Science,Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya
464-8603, Japan
†
Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan

Abstract. We have investigated sound wave propagation in helium and argon gases at low gas pressure. At pressure around
50 mtorr for argon and 30 mtorr for helium and sound source frequency of 40 kHz, the phase velocity of sound wave increases
with a decrease in pressure, which agrees well with the theoretical prediction based on Navier-Stokes equation. At a very low
pressure ( 5 mtorr ) of helium gas, the wave propagation shows pseudo wave property that the phase velocity is increasing as
distance from sound source increases.

INTRODUCTION
In recent experiments associated with fusion-related edge plasmas, high density Rydberg gases can be generated
by volumetric plasma recombination, which occurs by interaction between high density plasma ( > 1019 m−3 ) and
neutral gases at pressure of a few ten mtorr[1]. As increasing neutral gas pressure from 3 mtorr to 15 mtorr shown
in Fig. 1, high density helium plasmas, which transport along magnetic field, are cooled down to be less than 1
eV due to elastic, inelastic and charge exchange collisions with neutral gases, resulting in strong volumetric plasma
recombination including three body and radiative recombination. It is seen in Fig. 1(b) that the plasma is extinguished
in front of the target plate, which is so-called "detached plasma". Singlely ionized helium ions are recombined with
electrons, which are captured at highly excited states, to be Rydberg atoms. Highly excited helium atoms with a
principal quantum number n above 20 has been observed with light emission from the highly excited states as shown
in Fig. 1(c). Such high density Rydberg gas is thought to be quite interesting and new medium because the Rydberg
atoms have large atomic radius, which is proportional to n2 and they strongly interact each other by dipole-dipole
interaction. One of the most convenient way to study the collective phenomena in the Rydberg gas is to measure sound
wave propagation. We plan to investigate the sound wave propagation in the Rydberg gas. However, the high density
Rydberg gas is generated at very low gas pressure around 10 mtorr in our experiment, then first it is necessary to
know the propagation property of the sound wave in such low gas pressure because the propagation property should
be changed depending on neutral gas pressure[2,3]. In this report, we will presents sound wave propagation in helium
and argon gases at low gas pressure.

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Figure 2 shows schematic sketch of experimental setup. Vacuum vessel is made of stainless steal with a diameter
of 40 cm and a hight of 35 cm, pumped out by diffusion and rotary pumps. An electrostatic transducer with a
response frequency of 40 kHz is employed as a sound source. A 1/8 inch microphone ( Breul and Kjaer Model
4138) is suspended above the transducer. The distance d between microphone and transducer can be varied by using
micrometer. Detected signal is amplified by pre and main amplifiers up to 50 dB and stored in digital oscilloscope with
14 bit resolution. Typical waveforms measured in helium gas at a pressure of 50 mtorr are shown in the right hand side
of Fig. 2. In order to improve signal to noise ratio(S/N), averaging of detected signals is employed. At very low gas
pressure around 5 mtorr, we need to average more than 70000 signals to obtain sufficient S/N.
Sound wave propagation can be characterized by the two quantity, d/λm f p and fc / f , where λm f p is mean free path
of neutral particle and fc is inter-particle collision frequency. As shown in Fig. 3, the parameter space of d/λm f p

CP669, Plasma Physics: 11th International Congress on Plasma Physics: ICPP 2002
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 (a) Attached Plasma

P ~ 3mTorr

(b) Detached Plasma

P~15mTorr
FIGURE 1. Production of Rydberg gas by interaction between high density helium plasma and neutral gas. High density helium
plasma are recombined in front of the target plate as increasing neutral gas pressure from (a): 3 mtorr (attached plasma) to (b): 15
mtorr(detached plasma). (c) : Spectrum of optical emission from the detached plasma.

Main Amp. Pre Amp.

Intensity (arb. units)

Microphone

Digital Oscilloscope

Sound
Source
6HECCAH

6HECCAH Vacuum Vessel

0 0.2 0.4 0.6
Function Function
Generator Generator
Amplifier Time(msec)

FIGURE 2. Schematic of experimental setup and detected typical waveforms in helium gas at a pressure of 50 mtorr.

and fc / f is divided to three regions A, B, and C. In the region A where d/λm f p > 1 and fc / f > 10, sound wave
can propagate with constant phase velocity. When fc / f < 10, the phase velocity depends on fc / f . This region B is
frequency relaxation region. At d/λm f p < 1 (region C), neutral particles, which are oscillated by the transducer, can
reach the microphone directly. This propagation is ballistic mode, which is sometimes called "pseudo wave". Hatched
region in Fig. 3 shows our experimental parameters. As decreasing neutral pressure, the experimental parameters
d/λm f p and fc / f in Fig. 3 move from region A to B (C). Especially, we focus on sound wave propagation in the
boundary between region A and B, and pseudo wave propagation in region C.

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FIGURE 3. Classification of sound wave propagation. Hatched areas indicate the our experimental parameters for argon and
helium gases.

(a) Ar (c) Ar

Damping Constant [m-1]

500
Phase Velocity [m/s]

200
5000
(b) He (d) He

2000

Gas Pressure [Torr ] Gas Pressure [Torr ]

FIGURE 4. Dependence of phase velocity and damping constant on gas pressure. Solid curves are the theoretical prediction.

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Figure 4 show the typical experimental results, corresponding to the boundary between region A and B in Fig. 3.
The phase velocity is constant at pressure above 100 mtorr both in argon and helium gases.On the other hand, below
100 mtorr, the phase phase velocity is found to increase with a decrease in pressure. The boundary ( fc / f = 10 ) is
corresponding to 50 mtorr for argon gas and 30 mtorr for helium gas, respectively. Then, it is found that the phase
velocity start to increase near this boundary. On the other hand, damping constant is increasing with a decrease in
gas pressure and saturated near the boundary ( fc / f = 10 ). Solid curves are theoretical calculated results based on
Navier-Stokes equation by taking account of viscosity and thermal conductivity[4]. Theoretical predictions are in good
agreement with the experimental results. This means that viscosity and thermal conductivity plays a role in relatively
low gas pressure near the boundary between region A and B.

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 He 5mtorr He 5mtorr

Amplitude [arb. units]

Pseudowave Pseudowave
Phase [rad]

d [mm] d [mm]

FIGURE 5. Observation of the pseudo wave in helium gas at a pressure of 5 mtorr. (a): phase variation and (b): amplitude as a
function of the distance d between transducer and microphone.

Figure 5 shows phase variation and amplitude as a function of the distance d in helium gas at a pressure of 5
mtorr. The mean free path of inter-particle collision is larger than 15 mm. Then, helium atoms, vibrated at surface of
the transducer, can reach the microphone without collision. It is found that the phase delay becomes smaller with an
increase in d, which means the phase velocity increases in d. Theoretical analysis with simple model gives phase θ of
the pseudo wave gives as follows;
√
3 3
s  23
θ= , (1)
2 2
√ 
where s = ω d/ 2vt and vt = kT /m. Solid curve is calculated by using eq. (1). Experimental results qualitatively
agree with the theoretical predictions. Amplitude variation in d also shows the same tendency predicted by the
theoretical analysis. It can be concluded the pseudo wave was observed although there is some qualitative discrepancy
between experimental results and theoretical predictions.

CONCLUSIONS
We have investigated propagation property of sound wave in argon and helium gases with low gas pressure. At
relatively small pressure around 50 mtorr for argon and 30 mtorr for helium, the phase velocity increases with a
decrease in pressure, which agrees well with the theoretical prediction based on Navier-Stokes equation. At a very
low pressure ( 5 mtorr ) of helium gas, the phase velocity increase in d. This matches propagation property of pseudo
wave.
In near future, we will investigate sound wave propagation in the Rydberg gas based on this work.

REFERENCES
1. N. Ohno etal., Nucl. Fusion, 41, 1055(2001).
2. G. Maidanik etal., Phys. Fluids, 8, 266(1965).
3. G. Maidanik etal.,Phys. Fluids, 8, 269(1965).
4. M. Greenspan etal., Acoust. Physic, 2, 1(1965).

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