Triple probe signal detection electronics for systems lacking a well defined ground.

Triple probes have been used to measure plasma parameters of low temperature and edge plasmas, yielding simultaneous measurements of electron temperature, ion density, and floating potential. Unlike standard Langmuir and double probe techniques, there is no requirement to sweep the probe potential relative to the plasma, thus allowing fast time resolution. However, in some plasma systems "ground" is not well defined with respect to a known ground, may vary strongly in time, or may be at an inconveniently high voltage. The resulting high plasma (or floating) potential requires common mode rejection before the signals can be digitized. A signal detection circuit constructed from inexpensive operational amplifiers and that makes use of a novel floating bias generation configuration is described.