Measurement of plasma decay processes in mixture of sodium and argon by coherent microwave scattering

Journal Article · Mon Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3356053· OSTI ID:21347202

Zhili, Zhang ^[1]; Shneider, Mikhail N ^[2]

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1. Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 (United States)
2. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544 (United States)

This paper presents the experimental measurement and computational model of sodium plasma decay processes in mixture of sodium and argon by using radar resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI), coherent microwave Rayleigh scattering of REMPI. A single laser beam resonantly ionizes the sodium atoms by means of 2+1 REMPI process. The laser beam can only generate the ionization of the sodium atoms and have negligible ionization of argon. Coherent microwave scattering in situ measures the total electron number in the laser-induced plasma. Since the sodium ions decay by recombination with electrons, microwave scattering directly measures the plasma decay processes of the sodium ions. A theoretical plasma dynamic model, including REMPI of the sodium and electron avalanche ionization (EAI) of sodium and argon in the gas mixture, has been developed. It confirms that the EAI of argon is several orders of magnitude lower than the REMPI of sodium. The theoretical prediction made for the plasma decay process of sodium plasma in the mixture matches the experimental measurement.

• OSTI ID: 21347202
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3356053; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ARGON
ELECTRONS
LASERS
MICROWAVE RADIATION
MIXTURES
PHOTOIONIZATION
PLASMA
RAYLEIGH SCATTERING
SODIUM
ALKALI METALS
COHERENT SCATTERING
DISPERSIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
FERMIONS
FLUIDS
GASES
IONIZATION
LEPTONS
METALS
NONMETALS
RADIATIONS
RARE GASES
SCATTERING