Monte Carlo analysis of field-dependent electron avalanche coefficients in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure

Calculations of electron impact ionization of nitrogen gas at atmospheric pressure are presented based on the kinetic Monte Carlo technique. The emphasis is on energy partitioning between primary and secondary electrons, and three different energy sharing schemes have been evaluated. The ionization...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics of plasmas 2017-12, Vol.24 (12)
Main Authors: Nguyen, H. K., Mankowski, J., Dickens, J. C., Neuber, A. A., Joshi, R. P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheric pressure
Electron avalanche
Ionization
Mathematical analysis
Monte Carlo simulation
Nitrogen
Plasma physics
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Summary:Calculations of electron impact ionization of nitrogen gas at atmospheric pressure are presented based on the kinetic Monte Carlo technique. The emphasis is on energy partitioning between primary and secondary electrons, and three different energy sharing schemes have been evaluated. The ionization behavior is based on Wannier's classical treatment. Our Monte Carlo results for the field-dependent drift velocities match the available experimental data. More interestingly, the field-dependent first Townsend coefficient predicted by the Monte Carlo calculations is shown to be in close agreement with reported data for E/N values ranging as high as 4000 Td, only when a random assignment of excess energies between the primary and secondary particles is used.
ISSN:1070-664X
1089-7674
DOI:10.1063/1.5004995