Associative ionization reactions involving excited atoms in nitrogen plasma

作者：Popov N A^*

来源：Plasma Physics Reports, 2009, 35(5): 436-449.

DOI：10.1134/S1063780X09050092

A model of kinetic processes in gas-discharge plasmas of pure nitrogen and its mixtures with nitrogen oxide and oxygen is presented. A distinctive feature of the model is that it includes associative ionization reactions involving N((2) P) electronically excited atoms. Taking into account these processes allows one to explain both the anomalously slow decay of gas-discharge nitrogen plasma and the increase in the electron density in the region of the so-called pink afterglow in nitrogen. The possibility of substantially accelerating secondary ionization by adding NO molecules to a partially dissociated nitrogen is demonstrated. It is shown that such acceleration is caused by the associative ionization reaction N((2) P) O((3) P) -> e NO( ). The calculated results agree well with available experimental data.

• 出版日期2009-5