Population of vibrational levels of carbon dioxide by cylindrical fast ionization wave

Levko, Dmitry; Pachuilo, Michael; Raja, Laxminarayan L.

Population of vibrational levels of carbon dioxide by cylindrical fast ionization wave

Type

Article

Authors

Levko, Dmitry
Pachuilo, Michael
Raja, Laxminarayan L.

Online Publication Date

2017-09-08

Print Publication Date

2017-09

Date

2017-09-08

Abstract

The population of vibrational levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) by a cylindrical fast ionization wave is analyzed using a one-dimensional Particle-in-Cell Monte Carlo collisions model. The model takes into account the inelastic electron-neutral collisions as well as the super-elastic collisions between electrons and excited species. We observe an efficient population of only the first two levels of the symmetric and asymmetric vibrational modes of CO2 by means of a fast ionization wave. The excitation of other higher vibrational modes by the fast ionization wave is inefficient. Additionally, we observe a strong influence of the secondary electron emission on the population of vibrational states of CO2. This effect is associated with the kinetics of high energy electrons generated in the cathode sheath.

Citation

Levko D, Pachuilo M, Raja LL (2017) Population of vibrational levels of carbon dioxide by cylindrical fast ionization wave. Physics of Plasmas 24: 093513. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4997055.

Acknowledgements

The research reported in this publication was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).