Dissociation and Ionization of Hydrogen in High Frequency Discharges

Abstract

An examination of the collision processes in the electrodeless discharge of a hydrogen or deuterium ion source shows that the high yield of atomic ions implies a two-stage process, namely dissociation of molecules by electron collision and subsequent ionization of the atoms. A theoretical study of the balance between production and loss of atoms, together with measured values of plasma density and electron temperature, predicts a high degree of dissociation for a certain range of pressure. The energy balance is also examined and shows that most of the power maintaining the discharge apparently produces 10 ev ultra-violet quanta from excited atoms.