ELECTRON-ENERGY DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION IN DECAYING PLASMA OF HE-CO MIXTURE

The distribution function of CO molecules over vibration levels and el ectron energy distribution function (HEDF) in a decaying He-CO plasma in experimental conditions of paper [6] were theoretically and numeric ally studied. Both the diffusion of vibration-excited molecules toward the tube walls, and their subsequent deexcitation, were shown to have a substantial effect on the formation of CO-molecule vibration distri bution. In our conditions, electrons were heated predominantly by inel astic collisions with the vibration-excited molecules. The calculated electron temperature turned out to be lower, than the experimental one . Possibilities of reconciling these data are discussed. The influence of electron-electron collisions on the computed EEDF is studied. Taki ng into account the electron-electron collisions is shown to change su bstantially both the EEDF and mean electron temperature, even at a low (approximate to 10(-6)) ionization degree.