Collisional-radiative volume recombination and ionization coefficients for quasi-stationary helium plasmas

Collisional-radiative recombination and ionization coefficients, α andS, have been calculated on the basis of a non-hydrogen-like collisional-radiative model for atomic helium. The singlet and triplet systems have been considered as two individual systems coupled to each other through a set of elementary processes for collisions and radiation. Auto-ionization states have not been taken into account. Therefore the computations of the coefficient α have been limited to the range 125≦T _e °K]≦64000. (AboveT _e=64 000 °K the auto-ionizing states considerably influence the recombination rates (di-electronic recombination).) The results show that the α- andS-coefficients for helium are more sensitive to radiative trapping than those for hydrogen under comparable absorption conditions. Concerning the α-values: For low electron densities one obtains approximately α_helium≈2α_hydrogen, whereas at high electron densities one finds approximately α_helium≈1/2α_hydrogen (to 1/10 α_hydrogen at high electron temperatures). Collisional-radiative ionization coefficients for atomic helium have not yet been published in the past. In the present paper one finds for the first time a complete set ofS-coefficients for different degrees of radiative trapping.