Na. Gorbunov et al., Electron mobility in mixtures of optically excited sodium vapor, molecularnitrogen, and heavy inert gases, IEEE PLAS S, 28(4), 2000, pp. 1287-1295
A study is made of the processes of formation of a nonequilibrium electron
energy distribution in mixtures of sodium, molecular nitrogen, and heavy in
ert gases. It is shown that in these mixtures, a local maximum on the elect
ron energy distribu ion can form in the energy range corresponding to the R
amsauer minimum in the elastic collision cross section for inert gases. The
question is discussed of whether the electron mobility can become negative
during the resonant optical excitation of the 3S-3P transition in sodium,
The electron distribution function is calculated parametrically to determin
e the critical plasma parameters for which negative electron mobility can b
e observed in experiments, specifically, the composition of the mixture, th
e concentration of resonantly excited sodium atoms, the temperature corresp
onding to the distribution of vibrationally excited molecules, the degree o
f ionization, and the electric field strength.