Non-equilibrium vibrational and electron energy distributions functions in atmospheric nitrogen ns pulsed discharges and \mus post-discharges: the role of electron molecule vibrational excitation scaling-laws

TL;DR

This study models the electron energy distribution in nanosecond atmospheric nitrogen discharges, emphasizing the impact of vibrational excitation cross sections and their scaling laws on the distribution functions during and after the discharge.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent kinetic and Boltzmann equation model that compares different vibrational excitation cross section sets, highlighting the importance of accurate vibrational excitation data.

Findings

Vibrational excitation significantly influences electron energy distributions.

Different cross section sets lead to notable variations in the distribution functions.

Post-discharge dynamics are captured up to a few microseconds.

Abstract

The formation of the electron energy distribution function in nanosecond atmospheric nitrogen discharges is investigated by means of self-consistent solution of the chemical kinetics and the Boltzmann equation for free electrons. The post-discharge phase is followed to few microseconds. The model is formulated in order to investigate the role of the cross section set, focusing on the vibrational-excitation by electron-impact through resonant channel. Four different cross section sets are considered, one based on internally consistent vibrational-excitation calculations which extend to the whole vibrational ladder, and the others obtained by applying commonly used scaling-laws.