Light-induced heat and mass transfer in a single-component gas in a capillary

Abstract

A theoretical analysis is presented of light-induced heat and mass transfer in a single-component gas in a capillary tube at arbitrary Knudsen numbers. Surface and collisional mechanisms of transfer are analyzed, due to differences in accommodation coefficient and collision cross section between excited-and ground-state particles, respectively. Analytical expressions for kinetic coefficients characterizing the gas drift and heat transfer in a capillary tube are obtained in the limits of low and high Knudsen numbers. Numerical computations are performed for intermediate Knudsen numbers. Both drift and heat fluxes are determined as functions of the light beam frequency. In the case of an inhomogeneously broadened absorption line, the light-induced fluxes are found to depend not only on the sign, but also on the amount, of light beam detuning from the absorption line center frequency.