Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Winkler, R
• Sigeneger, F

Titel

Relaxation of the electron gas in spatially decaying plasmas

Ist Teil von

• Journal of physics. D, Applied physics, 2001-12, Vol.34 (23), p.3407-3417

Ort / Verlag

Bristol: IOP Publishing

Erscheinungsjahr

2001

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In the spatial decay region immediately adjacent to the active zone of weakly ionized plasmas, the spatial relaxation of the electron gas is studied in the inert gases Ne and He, the metal vapor Hg, and in molecular nitrogen. In these gas plasmas, the spatial decay behavior of the isotropic and anisotropic part of the velocity distribution as well as of all important macroscopic properties of the electrons is investigated and analyzed on a rigorous kinetic basis developed for field-free relaxation conditions. In particular, the rather different decay features of the electron gas in different gases and the relevant spatial scales involved in the decay process could be clearly elaborated and well characterized by deducing an energy-resolved, lumped energy dissipation length. In addition to the energy-resolved characterization of the velocity distribution, especially the spatial decay of the electron energy flux, of the power transfer rates to the gas particles in electron collisions and of the mean electron energy is evaluated. Furthermore, the influence of a variation of the boundary conditions, necessarily imposed at the margins of the spatial decay region, on the resultant decay behavior is critically investigated. (Author)