On the Rotational Distribution of N2 in the ArN2‐Discharge. The OO‐Band of the Second Positive System

Abstract

AbstractThe rotational distribution of the OO‐band of the second positive system of N2 was determined by the Ornstein method in the glow discharge of an argon‐nitrogen mixture at medium pressure. Evidently, for the rotational R‐ and P‐lines some straight lines can be fitted for rotational quantum numbers between 2 and 60 according to usual representation. The slopes of the curves indicate that the Boltzmann distribution does not exist for all the levels. For each of these straight lines can be declared a value of rotational temperature. The dependence of the several rotational temperatures on the discharge current is essential lower than the corresponding dependence of the gas temperature, which is calculated by means of the energy balance. The influence of the energy transfer from metastable argon atoms to ground‐state nitrogen molecules on the rotational distribution seems to be insignificant. Comparisons with rotational distributions in pure nitrogen plasmas point at the influence of interactions between nitrogen species.