Calculations of Electron Transport and Rate Coefficients in a Uniform Nitrogen Plasma

摘要

Using a recently developed method for a multi-term spherical harmonic expansion solution of the Boltzmann equation, we evaluate the accuracy of various previously applied approxiamtions for the calculation of swarm coefficients in the example of N sub 2 up to relatively high values of E/N, the ratio of the applied electric field strength to the neutral density. In particular, the effects of the two-term approximation and the conventional two-term derived equations, anisotropic scattering cross sections, and energy partitioning between the two electrons exiting from an ionization event are evaluated. The purpose in this work was to develop guidelines for delineating conditions under which the conventional calculations of swarm coefficients in a molecular gas are valid. (ERA citation 07:051962)