Excitation by electrons and fast neutrals in nitrogen discharges at very high electric field to gas number density ratios

Abstract

A Monte Carlo code for simulation of electron, ion and fast neutral transport was developed to model the spatial distribution of excitation under nonequilibrium conditions at very high electric field to gas number density ratios (E/N) and low currents. The code includes the most detailed representation of electron scattering and transport including the reflection and multiplication at the anode and simulation of ion and fast neutral transport for realistic geometry of the experiments of B. M. Jelenković and A. V. Phelps [Phys. Rev. A 36, 5310 (1987)] and V. T. Gylys, B. M. Jelenković, and A. V. Phelps [J. Appl. Phys. 65, 3369 (1989)]. A good agreement between the simulations and experimental data was achieved by using reasonable data for scattering cross sections from the literature. Simulations confirm the model proposed by A. V. Phelps, B. M. Jelenković and L. C. Pitchford [Phys. Rev. A 36, 5327 (1987)] of transport and excitation kinetics at very high E/N where fast neutral excitation is the dominant process for second positive (2+) band of nitrogen.