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Modelling the relaxation of a dilute electron gas interacting with a three-dimensional gas of neutral and excited atoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2000

N. PEYRAUD-CUENCA  and
P. FAUCHER
N. PEYRAUD-CUENCA
Affiliation:
UMR 6529 du CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, BP 4229, F-06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
P. FAUCHER
Affiliation:
UMR 6529 du CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, BP 4229, F-06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
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Abstract

The dynamics of a free electron gas interacting with neutral and excited atoms whose populations are assumed fixed is considered in the case of a three-dimensional model. An analytical form of the time-dependent electron distribution function for arbitrary initial conditions is obtained when interactions are only inelastic and superelastic between two atomic levels. It is shown that this electron gas reaches a stationary state. We deduce an experimental method for the measurement of the population of excited atoms in a neutral gas by injecting a dilute electron beam into the gas.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , July 2000 , pp. 13 - 39
Copyright
2000 Cambridge University Press

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