IONIZATION IN AN ELECTRODELESS DISCHARGE

Technical Report · Wed Mar 15 04:00:00 EST 1961

OSTI ID:4074018

Treat, R P

An analytical study was made of ionization occurring in a weakly pre- ionized molecular hydrogen gas. The configuration studied consists of a long, cylindrical gas column subjected to a strong, fast-rising, axial magnetic field which is initially zero. The investigation showed that in practice it is possible to obtain a large number of ionization collisions in a time t/sub m/ during which the plasma mass motion and the magnetic field are negligible. For this time interval, if electron losses are neglected, the increase in ionization fraction depends only on the voltage induced around the discharge tube and on the ratio of the circumference of the tube to the electron mean-free-path. Quantitative order-ofmagnitude results are given for the relation. For a fixed voltage around the discharge tube, maximum ionization during the mass motion time tm occurs if the energy gained by an electron in a free path is about equal to the threshold energy for ionization. (auth)

• Research Organization: Plasmadyne Corp., Santa Ana, Calif.
• NSA Number: NSA-15-021624
• OSTI ID: 4074018
• Report Number(s): AFOSR-473; TN-031-655
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

COLLISIONS
CONFIGURATION
CYLINDERS
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
ELECTRODES
ELECTRONS
ENERGY
GASES
HYDROGEN
IONIZATION
LEVELS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MASS
MOLECULES
MOTION
PHYSICS
PLASMA