Kinetic modeling of low-pressure nitrogen discharges and post-discharges

Issue		Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. Volume 28, Number 2, November 2004


Page(s)		125 - 152
Section		Review Article
DOI		10.1051/epjap:2004188
Published online		03 November 2004

Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 28, 125-152 (2004)
DOI: 10.1051/epjap:2004188

Kinetic modeling of low-pressure nitrogen discharges and post-discharges

V. Guerra¹, P.A. Sá² and J. Loureiro¹

¹ Centro de Física dos Plasmas, Instituto Superior Técnico, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
² Dep. de Física, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal

vguerra@alfa.ist.utl.pt

(Received: 5 July 2004 / Accepted: 31 August 2004 / Published online: 3 November 2004)

Abstract
The kinetic modeling of low-pressure ( $p\sim 1{-}10$ torr) stationary nitrogen discharges and the corresponding afterglows is reviewed. It is shown that a good description of the overall behavior of nitrogen plasmas requires a deep understanding of the coupling between different kinetics. The central role is played by ground-state vibrationally excited molecules, N $_2(X\ ^1\Sigma_g^+,v)$ , which have a strong influence on the shape of the electron energy distribution function, on the creation and destruction of electronically excited states, on the gas heating, dissociation and on afterglow emissions. N $_2(X\ ^1\Sigma_g^+,v)$ molecules are actually the hinge ensuring a strong link between the various kinetics. The noticeable task done by electronically excited metastable molecules, in particular N $_2(A\ ^3\Sigma_u^+)$ and N $_2(a^\prime\ ^1\Sigma_u^-)$ , is also pointed out. Besides contributing to the same phenomena as vibrationally excited molecules, these electronic metastable states play also a categorical role in ionization. Furthermore, vibrationally excited molecules in high v levels are in the origin of the peaks observed in the flowing afterglow for the concentrations of several species, such as N $_2(A\ ^3\Sigma_g^+)$ , N $_2(B\ ^3\Pi_g)$ , N $_2^{\ +}(B\ ^2\Sigma_u^+)$ and electrons, which occur downstream from the discharge after a dark zone as a consequence of the V-V pumping-up mechanism.

PACS
52.20.-j - Elementary processes in plasmas.
52.80.-s - Electric discharges.
82.33.Xj - Plasma reactions (including flowing afterglow and electric discharges).

© EDP Sciences 2004

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