Collision cross sections and electron swarm parameters in argon

Abstract

The electron distribution function is calculated in argon by solving the Boltzmann equation in the classical two-term approximation for reduced electric fields in the range 10-19<or=E/N<or=2*10-15 V Cm2. A detailed set of collision cross sections including about 30 excitation levels is used. This set of inelastic cross sections is obtained directly from a microscopic approach without any adjustment to fit the calculated and measured electron swarm parameters. The predicted values of these parameters are in excellent agreement with the most recent experimental data. For each level, the excitation rate coefficients are reported for the direct excitation from the ground state and for the cascades from upper states. They agree with the experimental results when the latter are available, but for most levels the authors' results are the first ones.