Model confirmation of an experimental method for determination of sheath length in a low-pressure glow discharge

A simple experimental technique for measuring the sheath length in a low-pressure glow discharge has recently been proposed in which the sheath length is determined from measurement of the transient current resulting from a rapidly rising voltage pulse applied to a steady-state discharge. In this comment, the sheath length deduced from a simulation of this experimental technique is compared with the sheath length determined directly from self-consistent calculations of the electric field profile. The excellent agreement found between these two calculations of the sheath length provides validation of the experimental technique.