Eur. Phys. J. D 54, 391-398 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2009-00144-3

Non-Maxwellian electron energy distribution function in He, He/Ar, He/Xe/H₂ and He/Xe/D₂ low temperature afterglow plasma

¹ Department of Surface and Plasma Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
² Research Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1525 Budapest, Hungary

Corresponding author: ^a Radek.Plasil@mff.cuni.cz

Received: 12 September 2008
Revised: 7 January 2009
Published online: 8 May 2009

Abstract

Experimental studies of the electron energy distribution function “EEDF” under well defined conditions in flowing afterglow plasma, using a Langmuir probe are reported. The EEDF is measured in He₂⁺ and Ar⁺ dominated plasmas and in XeH⁺ and XeD⁺ dominated recombining plasmas. He is used as a buffer gas at medium pressures in all experiments (1600 Pa, 250 K). The deviation of the measured EEDF from Maxwellian distribution is shown to depend on plasma composition and on the processes governing the plasma decay. The influence of energetic electrons produced during the plasma decay on the body and tail of the EEDF is observed. The mechanism of energy balance in afterglow plasma is discussed.