Vibrationally excited molecules and mechanisms of chemical and physical processes in non-equilibrium plasmas

The results of theoretical and experimental investigations of some physical and chemical processes caused by collisions between vibrationally excited molecules (such as molecular dissociation, molecular electronic excitation, ionization and ion conversion, gas heating) under non-equilibrium plasma conditions of low-pressure electrical discharges are presented. It is shown that the role of vibrationally excited molecules in these processes is very large for nitrogen molecules, in which the probability of V—T exchange is much smaller than in other molecules for low gas temperatures.