On the quasi-stationary approach to solve the electron Boltzmann equation in pulsed plasmas

Abstract

This work analyzes the temporal evolution of the electron kinetics in dry-air plasmas (80% N2: 20% O2), excited by electric-field pulses with typical rise-times of 10−9 and 10−6 s, applied to a stationary neutral gaseous background at pressures of 105, 133 Pa and temperature of 300 K. The study is based on the solution of the electron Boltzmann equation (EBE), adopting either (i) a time-dependent formulation that considers an intrinsic time evolution for the electron energy distribution function (EEDF), assuming the classical two-term expansion and a space-independent exponential temporal growth of the electron density; or (ii) a quasi-stationary approach, where the time-independent form of the EBE is solved for different values of the reduced electric-field over the duration of the pulse. The EBE was solved using the LisbOn KInetics Boltzmann solver (LoKI-B), whose original capabilities were extended to accept time-dependent non-oscillatory electric fields as input data. The role of electron–electron collisions, under specific conditions, is also reported and discussed. The simulations show that the quasi-stationary approach gives solutions similar to the time-dependent formulation for rise-times longer than the characteristic evolution time of the EEDF, i.e. 20 ns at 105 Pa and 20 μs at 133 Pa, meaning that a quasi-stationary description is possible in a high-collisionality situation and long rise-times (e.g. microsecond pulses at atmospheric pressure), failing for faster rise-times (e.g. nanosecond pulses for both pressures considered here).