Electron beam initiated discharges in HN3 gas mixtures

Abstract

The behavior of electron beam initiated discharges in HN3 and inert gas mixtures for different E/N values are presented. These results are the first reported investigations of this highly energetic azide gas under plasma conditions. Using a 3 ns, 600 KeV ionizing electron beam, the temporal decay of the discharge current shows HN3 is electronegative. HN3 attachment rate constants in Ar are 5.0–10.0×10−11 cm3 s−1 for E/N values in the range 1–4 Td (10−17 V cm2). With the other inert gases (He, Ne, Kr, and Xe), HN3 attachment rate constants are 0.5–4.5×10−10 cm3 s−1 for the E/N range of 0.5–7.0 Td. Plasma excitation of Ar and HN3 gas mixtures produce intense N2(C→B, v′=0→v″=0) electronic transition radiation at 3371 Å.