A collisional-radiative model applicable to argon discharges over a wide range of conditions. II. Application to low-pressure, hollow-cathode arc and low-pressure glow discharges

Abstract

For pt.I see ibid., vol.22, p.623 (1989). The extensive collisional-radiative model for an argon atom plasma is applied to a low-pressure, hollow-cathode arc discharge and to the positive column of a low-pressure glow discharge in order to clarify the mechanisms by which the excited levels in these discharges are populated, the results being compared with experimental investigations in the literature. Computations are carried out for various sets of input parameters, such as the electron kinetic temperature Te, the atom temperature Ta, the ion temperature Ti, the electron number density ne, the ground state atom population n1, the plasma column radius R and the escape factors lambda mn and lambda m, characterising the non-equilibrium plasmas under consideration. The predictions of the authors' model. i.e the populations in the excited levels as a function of the electron number density, the effective principal quantum number and the discharge current, are compared with the experimental results and in two cases also with the theoretical results of other authors. It is shown that all calculated dependences are fairly close to the corresponding experimental curves referring to both discharges. The results presented confirm the applicability of the so-called 'analytical top model' of van der Mullen et al. (1978, 1980) and Walsh's formula for Lambda 1n interpreted according to Mills and Hieftje (1984).