Dissociative recombination coefficient for low temperature equilibrium cesium plasma

Abstract

The dissociative recombination (DR) coefficient in decaying low temperature Cs plasma is calculated based on the experimentally measured relaxation time of decaying Cs plasma by L. P. Harris [J. Appl. Phys. 36, 1543 (1965)]. Results showed that DR is the dominant recombination process over three-body recombination at T<1650 K and PCs of 0.5–20 Torr (67–2666 Pa). The estimated DR coefficient for Cs is between 10−12 and 10−13 m3/s at T<1750 K and PCs of 0.5–20 Torr. Although theory predicts that DR coefficient solely depends on temperature, the present results show pressure dependency. For typical operating conditions in thermionic converters (T<1650 K and PCs⩽400 Pa), DR is constant and ∼5.26×10−13 m3/s.