Characterization of afterglow kinetics at atmospheric pressures by emission spectroscopy. I: reactions of neon ions with N2
Résumé
The afterglow of a 1 kA, 10 ns duration discharge in neon at 1-4 bar pressure containing up to 10 mbar of reactant admixture N2 was studied by time-resolved emission spectroscopy. Destruction rates of neon ions have been experimentally determined from the selectively excited fluorescence of N2+ emitted as the result of charge transfer. Reasonable agreement with previously reported results was obtained over the smaller range of nitrogen pressures (below 0.8 mbar) used in those studies. Data obtained at reactant pressures higher than about 1.2 mbar were consistent with a kinetic model in which vibrationally excited Ne2+ ions play an important role. The slow collisional relaxation of these ions (rate coefficient 3.7 10-13 cm3s-1) would limit the rate of Ne+ to Ne2+ conversion at neon pressures higher than about 0.2 bar