Stationary striations in a glow discharge

Abstract

A comprehensive review was published (Landa et al. 1980), devoted mainly to studies of moving striations in glow discharge, but containing also some remarks on the present author's work (Chapnik 1968) on the theory of stationary striations, which usually appear in molecular gases. Landa et al. (1980) conclude that the results obtained are at variance with experimental data on the variation of electron density and electron temperature in the striated positive column in hydrogen. However, this conclusion, in the present author's opinion, is based on some mis-understandings, perhaps caused by the omission from the original work of detailed discussion of the relation between the theoretical solution and the experimental data. Bearing this in mind and considering also that the existence of stationary striations is still often thought to be poorly understood, the relationship of the proposed theory and the experimental data, are briefly discussed.