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Electron energy distributions in e -beam generated Xe and Ar plasmas
Calculations have been performed to determine the time evolution of electron energy distributions in e-beam generated Xe and Ar plasmas. In these calculations, we have included electron-neutral elastic and inelastic collisions, electron-electron collisions, and electron-ion dissociative recombinatio...
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Published in: | Journal of applied physics 1976-07, Vol.47 (7), p.2946-2953 |
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Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Calculations have been performed to determine the time evolution of electron energy distributions in e-beam generated Xe and Ar plasmas. In these calculations, we have included electron-neutral elastic and inelastic collisions, electron-electron collisions, and electron-ion dissociative recombination. Our results indicate that in equilibrium the distributions can be reasonably approximated by a Maxwellian below the thresholds for inelastic electron-neutral processes. However, above these thresholds, the inelastic processes dominate so that the high-energy tails of the distributions are largely missing. As a result, a model which takes the distribution to be Maxwellian everywhere somewhat underestimates the average energy of the electrons or overestimates the ionization and direct-impact excitation rates. At very early times and after the removal of the e-beam, there can be significant departures from a Maxwellian distribution. Following removal of the e-beam, the electrons equilibrate with the gas; however, this equilibration occurs on a time scale that is long compared to many other processes in noble-gas eximer laser systems. |
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ISSN: | 0021-8979 1089-7550 |
DOI: | 10.1063/1.323086 |