The Electron Relaxation to Stationary States in Collision Dominated Plasmas in Molecular Gases

The temporal collision dominated relaxation of electrons to new stationary states, starting from initial stationary states and due to jump-like changes of the electric field, was studied in the plasmas of the molecular gases N₂ and CO. Numerical solving of the time dependent Boltzmann equation for the electrons yields the temporal evolution of their energy distribution function and of resulting macroscopic quantities. The varying relaxation due to different values of the field strength in the final stationary state has been investigated considering the molecules of the plasma only as vibrationally non-excited and, in another case, including the additional impact of collisions with vibrationally excited molecules. The results obtained are discussed and, in particular, the relaxation times found for the transitions to the new stationary states are analysed on the basis of the energy transfer effectiveness by the collision processes. An approximative microphysical basis for the understanding of the main features of the relaxation in such complex molecular gas plasmas could be obtained.     

Characteristic features of the formation of the vibrational distribution function of H2 molecules in a hydrogen stream

A theoretical analysis is made of the flow of vibrationally excited hydrogen in a channel. It is shown that coverage of the channel walls with adsorbed hydrogen atoms can substantially increase the concentration of vibrationally excited molecules in the stream. The possibility of applying these results to bulk sources of negative H⁻ hydrogen ions is discussed. It is shown that the rate of H⁻ ion generation in the source may be enhanced appreciably under conditions where this generation is achieved by dissociative attachment of thermal electrons to H₂ molecules injected into the discharge chamber, whose vibrational distribution function has been pre-enriched in excited molecules by suitably organizing the hydrogen flow in the channel. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 15–21 (June 1999)     

Electron impact cross sections of vibrationally and electronically excited molecules

It is well known that the electron impact cross sections for elastic and inelastic processes for the vibrationally and electronically excited molecules are predominantly different than those for molecules in the ground state. Collisions of low energy electrons with excited molecules play an important role in explaining the behavior of gas discharges in laser and plasma physics, in planetary atmospheres, stars, and interstellar medium and in plasmas widely used in the fabrication of microelectronics. This explains as to why there is a need for having validated sets of electron impact cross sections for different processes. This work reviews the subject of electron collisions with vibrationally and electronically excited molecules in a comprehensive way. The survey has been carried out for a few excited molecules such as H₂, D₂, T₂, HD, HT, DT, N₂, O₂, and CO₂.     

Experimental determination of vibrational energy transfer of CO2 laser by current modulation

Experimental and theoretical studies are presented of current modulation of a low-power CO₂ laser. It is found that the resonant energy transfer from vibrationally excited level of N₂ to (00⁰1) level of CO₂ mainly determines the modulated laser output.     

Transient response of hot electrons in narrow-gap semiconductors at low temperatures in the presence of a longitudinal quantizing magnetic field

Transient response of hot electrons in narrow-gap semiconductors to a step electric field in the presence of a longitudinal quantizing magnetic field has been studied at low temperatures using displaced Maxwellian distribution. The energy and momentum balance equations are used assuming acoustic phonon scattering via deformation potential responsible for the energy relaxation and elastic acoustic phonon scattering together with ionized impurity scattering for momentum relaxation. The calculations for the variation of drift velocity and electron temperature as functions of time are made for n-Hg_0.8Cd_0.2 Te in the extreme quantum limit at 1.5 K and 4.2 K. The momentum and energy relaxation times are found to be of the same order of magnitudes as with the experimental values. The magnetic field and lattice temperature dependences of the relaxation rates have been investigated.One of the authors, Suchandra Bhaumik, acknowledges the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (New Delhi) for financial support.     

Emission of electrons from mim systems: Energy distributions

In this part of our study we measured energy distributionsN(E) andN(E _X ) of electrons emitted from sandwich cathodes, and their basic temperature (at 300, 200 and 80 K) and voltage dependences. From the distributionN(E) at 80 K we calculated the mean free path of electrons in cathode and the effective temperature of distribution. The anomalous emission (beginning at small leakage voltages) was observed and its energy distribution measured, too. From the graphs it can be seen that some electrons acquire energy 2–5 eV during their transition through the sandwich cathode.     

Effect of Discharge Plasma Potential on Diffusion Plasma Parameters Controlled by a Mesh Grid in a Double Plasma Device

The plasma region under investigation is separated from the discharge region by a mesh grid. Plasma potential and electron number densities and electron temperatures under bi‐Maxwellian approximation for electron distribution function of the multi‐dipole argon plasma are measured. The cold electrons in the diffusion region are produced by local ionization. The hot electrons are the ionizing electrons behaving as Maxwellian. The electron trapping process in the discharge region is produced by potential well due to positive plasma potential with respect to the anode and by a repulsive grid. The dependence of ratios of the density of the hot to the cold electrons N_E (=N_eh/N_ec) and hot to cold electron temperature T(=T_eh/T_ec) in the diffusion region on the depth of the potential well has been investigated. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Vibrational Excitation of N2(B,C) and N+2(B) States in N2 and N2 – H2 Flowing Microwave Discharges

The ro‐vibrational spectra of N₂ microwave discharges have been analysed by emission spectroscopy. It is deduced the rotational and vibrational temperatures of N₂ states. The characteristic of vibrational temperature Θ₁ of the N₂ (X, v) ground state has been specifically determined.It has been found that the N₂ (C, B, v') and N⁺₂ (B, v') radiative states are directly excited by electron collisions on the N₂ (X,v) ground state at a N₂ gas pressure of 0.1 Torr (discharge tube of 5 mm I.D, microwave power 100 Watt) with a Θ₁ value near 10⁴ K. At higher gas pressure up to 5 Torr, the N₂ (C, v') states remain alone to be mainly excited by electron collisions on N₂ (X, v). It is considered the excitations of the N₂ (B, v') states by collisions of electrons and N₂ (X,v > 4) vibrational molecules on the N₂ (A) metastable states.With x < 9% H₂ into N₂, it is observed an increase of N₂, 2^nd pos intensity, resulting of an increase of high energy electrons. Inversely, the N₂, 1^st pos intensity decreased, partly following the decrease of low energy electrons (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Numerical study of an electrostatic plasma sheath with non-thermal electrons and charged nanoparticles

Numerical solutions of the multi-fluid equations are used to investigate the effects of non-thermal electrons on the structure of an electrostatic plasma sheath in the presence of nano-sized dust grains. It is assumed that electrons obey the Cairns distribution [Cairns et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. 22, 2709 (1995)], with a parameter α that determines the effect of non-thermal electrons and shows the deviation from the Maxwellian distribution. The results revealed that sheath parameters are strongly modified in the presence of non-thermal electrons and with increasing α the sheath width increases. With the increase in α, the absolute dust charge increases while the dust density is reduced.     

Study of the X-ray emission from Ta plasma obtained by ns laser ablation

In this work, the continuum spectrum of X-rays originated from the interaction of a moderate intensity ns Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm, 9 ns, 30 Hz, 900 mJ, 10¹¹ W/cm²) with Ta target producing plasma is investigated. Plasma expands unisotropically with a velocity, depending on the pressure of the residual gas in the vacuum chamber. The X-ray intensity is a function of the laser energy and of the gas pressure inside the chamber. The X-ray energy is measured with an X-ray filter positioned in front of the Si(Li) solid-state detector. A temperature of about ～1–2 keV of the hot electrons, responsible for the continuum spectrum emission from the plasma, is calculated from the fit of the X-ray spectrum, applying a Maxwellian distribution.     

Electron spectroscopy of autoionizing states of nitrogen atoms

During excitation of N₂, NO and N₂O molecules by fast neutral 1¹S helium atoms, highly excited molecular states are formed which yield, through predissociation, autoionizing nitrogen atoms. The energy of electrons released in autoionization was measured and the energy and plausible spectroscopic assignment of autoionizing levels was determined. The excited levels belong to Rydberg series converging to the N⁺(¹D) series limit. Besides molecular states derived by correlation of the final atoms, highly excited molecular parent states are also discussed.     

Numerical study of the effect of gas flow in low pressure inductively coupled Ar/N<Subscript>2</Subscript> plasmas

The effect of gas flow in low pressure inductively coupled Ar/N₂ plasmas operating at the rf frequency of 13.56 MHz and the total gas pressure of 20 mTorr is studied at the gas flows of 5–700 sccm by coupling the plasma simulation with the calculation of flow dynamics. The gas temperature is 300 K and input power is 300 W. The Ar fractions are varied from 0% to 95%. The species taken into account include electrons, Ar atoms and their excited levels, N₂ molecules and their seven different excited levels, N atoms, and Ar⁺, N⁺, N₂ ⁺, N₄ ⁺ ions. 51 chemical reactions are considered. It is found that the electron densities increase and electron temperatures decrease with a rise in gas flow rate for the different Ar fractions. The densities of all the plasma species for the different Ar fractions and gas flow rates are obtained. The collisional power losses in plasma discharges are presented and the effect of gas flow is investigated.     

Non-Maxwellian electron energy distribution function in He,He/Ar,He/Xe/H<Subscript>2</Subscript> and He/Xe/D<Subscript>2</Subscript> low temperature afterglow plasma

Experimental studies of the electron energy distribution function “EEDF” under well defined conditions in flowing afterglow plasma, using a Langmuir probe are reported. The EEDF is measured in He₂ ⁺ and Ar⁺ dominated plasmas and in XeH⁺ and XeD⁺ dominated recombining plasmas. He is used as a buffer gas at medium pressures in all experiments (1600 Pa, 250 K). The deviation of the measured EEDF from Maxwellian distribution is shown to depend on plasma composition and on the processes governing the plasma decay. The influence of energetic electrons produced during the plasma decay on the body and tail of the EEDF is observed. The mechanism of energy balance in afterglow plasma is discussed.     

X-ray emission from plasma generated by nanosecond laser irradiating tantalum

A continuum spectrum of X-rays, originating from the interaction of a moderate intensity nanosecond Nd:Yag laser (1064 nm, 9 ns, 30 Hz, 900 mJ, 10¹¹ W/cm²) with metal targets producing plasma, is investigated. The photon emission intensity is particularly high when the plasma expands in a low-pressure gas. The photon energy is measured through selective thin absorber films employed in front of the solid state detector. The temperature of the hot electrons generated from the plasma, responsible for the continuum spectrum emission, is calculated from the fit of the X-ray spectrum with a Maxwellian distribution, and it is about 1–2 keV.     

Influence of electron energy distribution on helium recombining plasma diagnostics using line emissions

The influence of electron energy distribution on helium recombining plasma diagnostics is investigated using a helium collisional‐radiative model. The population densities of excited helium atoms are calculated for Maxwellian and non‐Maxwellian distribution plasma cases. In the case of the Maxwellian distribution plasma, the electron temperature and electron density determined by the Boltzmann plot method agree well with the input plasma parameters. On the other hand, it is indicated that the electron temperature and electron density are significantly underestimated in the bi‐Maxwellian distribution plasma case, even though the density of the hot electron components is three orders smaller than that of the bulk electrons. This result indicates that in a non‐Maxwellian helium recombining plasma, evaluation of the particle balance based on line emissions from excited helium atoms would be difficult because the reaction rate of atomic and molecular processes is strongly dependent on the electron temperature and density.     

Pump wavelength dependence of hot electron temperature in GaAs

We have measured the variation of the temperature of the photoexcited hot electrons in GaAs as the pump photon energy is varies from 1.54 to 2.83 eV using various dyes in N₂ laser pumped dye laser. We find that the photon flux required to obtain a given temperature (45°K) increases by a factor of 15 as the photon energy decreases from 2.83 to 1.54 eV. The results are in agreement with a simple theory, and allow us to draw interesting conclusions about energy relaxation processes in semiconductors.     

Radiative transfer in the lyman α spectral line with self-consistent electron velocity distribution

Radiative transfer in the Ly α spectral line in a stationary, plane-parallel plasma of constant temperature and electron density is studied using model H-atoms with only two bound levels and a continuum. For this purpose, the equation of radiative transfer is solved simultaneously with the steady-state equations of the atomic levels and the kinetic equation of the electrons. The numerical results indicate that, in hydrogen plasmas with temperatures T ? 12,000°K and electron densities n_e ? 10¹⁶cm^?3, the high-energy tail of the electron velocity distribution deviates from a Maxwell distribution, even in cases of rather large optical thicknesses and that therefore the deviations from local thermodynamic equilibrium are increased compared with estimates based on the assumption of a Maxwellian electron velocity distribution. This qualitative conclusion should hold in spite of some deficiencies of the model which are discussed.     

EPR spectra of the excited nitrogen state in 6H-SiC

A study is reported of donor EPR spectra in compensated 6H-SiC crystals with donor concentrations (N _D -N _A ) varied from 8×10¹⁷ to 5×10¹⁶ cm^?3, performed within a temperature interval from 77 to 170 K at a frequency of 37 GHz. A second paramagnetic state of nitrogen in silicon carbide has been found to exist, and it is associated with its excited 1S(E) state becoming paramagnetic after thermal ionization of the donor electrons from the 1S(A ₁) to 1S(E) level. The EPR spectrum of nitrogen in the 1S(E) state is a single line with an anisotropic width because of the unresolved hyperfine structure. A light-induced charge transfer between the ground, 1S(A ₁), and excited, 1S(E), nitrogen states has been observed. The valley-orbit splitting and the energy required to ionize donor electrons from the 1S(E) to higher lying excited states have been determined for the cubic nitrogen sites. The parameters of a structural defect, characteristic of n-type 6H-SiC compensated crystals, have been established.     

On the surface properties of a nanodiamond

The dependences of the specific surface energy, the surface tension, and the surface pressure on the size, the surface shape, and the temperature of a nanodiamond with a free surface have been investigated using the Mie-Lennard-Jones interatomic interaction potential. The nanocrystal has the form of a parallelepiped faceted by the (100) planes with a square base. The number of atoms N in the nanocrystal varies from 5 to ∞. The isothermal isomorphic dependences of the specific surface energy, its isochoric derivative with respect to the temperature, the surface tension, and the surface pressure on the nanodiamond size have been calculated at temperatures ranging from 20 to 4300 K. According to the results of the calculations, the surface energy under this conditions is positive, which indicates that the nanodiamond cannot be fragmented at temperatures up to 4300 K. The surface pressure for the nanodiamond P _sf (N) ∼ N ^−1/3 is considerably less than the Laplace pressure P _ls (N)^−1/3 ∼ N ^−1/3 for the same nanocrystal at the given values of the temperature, the density, and the number of atoms N. As the temperature increases from 20 to 4300 K, the lowering of the isotherm P _sf (N) is considerably more pronounced than that of the isotherm P _ls (N). At high temperatures, the isotherm P _sf (N) changes the shape of the size dependence and goes to the range of extension of small nanocrystals. It has been demonstrated that the lattice parameter of the nanodiamond can either decrease or increase with a decrease in the nanocrystal size. The most significant change in the lattice parameter of the nanodiamond is observed at temperatures below 1000 K.     

Generation of H− ions in a low-pressure xenon-hydrogen discharge. I

A theory of a low-pressure discharge in a xenon-molecular hydrogen mixture is developed. It is shown that, in such a discharge, at an interelectrode distance of L = 1 cm and a total plasma pressure of p ₀ ～ 1 Torr, the density of negative hydrogen ions produced via the dissociative attachment of thermal electrons to vibrationally excited molecules H₂ can reach a value as high as N_H ^? ≥ 10¹² cm^?3. According to calculations, the electron temperature in discharge operating regimes under study attains T _e ≈ 1?2 eV, which corresponds to the maximum of the e-v exchange rate constant of H₂ molecules. This ensures a relatively high rate of vibrational pumping of H₂ molecules in the discharge.