Electron transport analysis in water vapor

Abstract

A reliable set of electron collision cross sections for water vapor, including elastic, rotational, vibrational, and electronic excitation, electron attachment, and ionization cross sections, is estimated by the electron swarm method. In addition, anisotropic electron scattering for elastic and rotational excitation collisions is considered in the cross section set. Electron transport coefficients such as electron drift velocity, longitudinal diffusion coefficient, and effective ionization coefficient are calculated from the cross section set by Monte Carlo simulation in a wide range of E/N values, where E and N are the applied electric field and the number density of H2O molecules, respectively. The calculated transport coefficients are in good agreement with those measured. The obtained results confirm that the anisotropic electron scattering is important for the calculation at low E/N values. Furthermore, the cross section set assuming the isotropic electron scattering is proposed for practical use.