THE DYNAMICAL BEHAVIOUR OF PULSED LOW-PRESSURE DISCHARGES: THE GROTRIAN MODEL

摘要

In support of our experimental work on pulsed low pressure discharges which seeks to identify means of enhancing the efficiency of mercury rare-gas discharges and to explore systems with novel radiators we have been developing a time-dependent collisional radiative model to complement, and ultimately to be unified with, both our low pressure molecular gas discharge code "Tonatiuh" and our lamp chemistry adapted CFD code "Ehecatl". In common with the work of van Dijk et al the new code is designed to be a general purpose plasma modelling tool with a familiar Windows~(~R) interface. The latter feature, has created, in addition, a separate, useful teaching/research tool in atomic and molecular spectroscopy. The use of object orientated design in representing terms, levels and transitions provides versatility though 'point and click' manipulation of the Grotrian diagram. The Windows C++ code incorporates a robust, calculation engine and achieves considerable flexibility by using simple text files to add element-specific atomic processes.