The effect of charge transfer on ion drift velocity in electromagnetic fields

Abstract

The drift velocity of ions is calculated in the presence of electric and magnetic fields when charge transfer collisions predominate. For zero magnetic field, the drift velocity is proportional to (E/p)1/2 where E is the electric field and p the neutral pressure and good agreement is obtained with the ion drift velocities in the rare gases, measured by Hornbeck (1951) and Varney (1952). For a high magnetic field B (many cyclotron revolutions per ion-neutral collision), the drift velocity is derived by assuming a frame of reference to transform out the E field. The result is similar to the classical drift for ions (without charge transfer) except that a velocity nu r=E/B is substituted for nu the thermal velocity.