Collisional-radiative modelling of one- and two-temperature air and air-sodium plasmas at atmospheric pressure with temperatures of 2000-12 000 K

Owing to recent improvements in the calculation of electron-diatomic molecu le inelastic cross sections, a collisional-radiative model is proposed to s tudy the effects of radiative losses on the population of the various chemi cal species and excited states of an air plasma at atmospheric pressure in the temperature range 2000-12000 K. Consequences of kinetic temperature dif ferences between electrons and heavy particles and of the presence of a sma ll quantity of an easily ionizable species (sodium) were extensively studie d and reported. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.