skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Electron and metastable state interactions in two-step ionization waves

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2219982· OSTI ID:20860516
; ;  [1]
  1. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433 (United States)

We demonstrate the use of a microwave hairpin resonator to measure the time-dependent, phase-resolved electron number density in ionization waves. Under our argon glow discharge conditions, the instability was caused by two-step ionization; and the wave frequency depended on the volume quenching rate of the metastable states. We measured the 1s{sub 5} metastable state density using diode laser absorption. The peak electron number density lagged behind the peak metastable state density by 60 deg. This phase shift reveals the nonlocal nature of the electron kinetics due to two-step ionization.

OSTI ID:
20860516
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 89, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2219982; (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English