The methods and the results of investigations of the reactions in which electrons appear with energies surpassing the average electron distribution's energy in a plasma are considered. Particular attention is paid to the plasma electron spectroscopy method, which combines the advantages of the elementary processes examination in a plasma with the possibilities of conventional electron spectroscopy. Data of the study of chemiionization reactions involving two excited rare gas atoms, Penning ionizations of atoms and molecules by the helium metastable atoms and quenching of excited inert gases and mercury atoms by the electrons are given. The influence of the processes of creating fast electrons on the plasma properties is discussed.
The theoretical and experimental study of the ionisation kinetics at the rapid growth of the external electric field has been performed in a low-temperature plasma. The initial electron density ne0 was between 109 and 1011 cm-3, the density of the ground-state atoms n1 was between 1016 and 1019 cm-3 and the E/n1 parameter was within the limits 3-300 Td. The theoretical model of the ionisation kinetics taking into account the most important collisional and radiative processes together with the diffusion phenomena was improved. The electron density growth was found to be of an explosive character. It has been shown that the ionic-molecular processes in a given range of the ne, n1 and E/n1 parameters are not significant for the electron density variation. Approximate analytical expressions were obtained for the ionisation development. Calculation and experiment were compared and showed good agreement.
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