Modeling nitrogen plasmas produced by intense electron beams
- Plasma Physics Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States)
- Independent contractors for NRL through Engility, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia 22314 (United States)
A new gas–chemistry model is presented to treat the breakdown of a nitrogen gas with pressures on the order of 1 Torr from intense electron beams with current densities on the order of 10 kA/cm{sup 2} and pulse durations on the order of 100 ns. For these parameter regimes, the gas transitions from a weakly ionized molecular state to a strongly ionized atomic state on the time scale of the beam pulse. The model is coupled to a 0D–circuit model using the rigid–beam approximation that can be driven by specifying the time and spatial profiles of the beam pulse. Simulation results are in good agreement with experimental measurements of the line–integrated electron density from experiments done using the Gamble II generator at the Naval Research Laboratory. It is found that the species are mostly in the ground and metastable states during the atomic phase, but that ionization proceeds predominantly through thermal ionization of optically allowed states with excitation energies close to the ionization limit.
- OSTI ID:
- 22600222
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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