NEGATIVE DIFFERENTIAL CONDUCTIVITY OF ELECTRONS IN ELECTRON-BEAM SUSTAINED DISCHARGE IN PURE XENON

The mechanism of negative differential conductivity (NDC) in an electr on-beam sustained gas discharge of pure Xe is investigated by modeling . The drift velocity of electrons in Xe has been calculated using a se lf-consistent kinetic model. Model calculations involves the self-cons istent solution of the Boltzmann equation for electron energy distribu tion function in the two-term approximation and a complete set of rate equations for the excited and ionic species in the discharge plasma. It is shown that the main factor responsible for the observation of th e NDC effect is Coulomb interaction between electrons. Regions in expe rimentally achievable parameter space where NDC can be observed are de termined. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(48)04016 -X]