Simple model for the electronic relaxation during the expansion of a plasma generated in an Ar–O2 mixture

Abstract

The local properties of a plasma free jet are calculated with a collisional-radiative model where electron density and temperature are included as parameters. The kinetic equations are written for all the electronic states of the atomic species Ar and O. In the first step, only excitation and de-excitation by electron collisions are taken into account, together with spontaneous radiative decay. This allows the problem to be treated as a linear system of equations represented by a matrix. In the second step, collisional processes with atoms and residual molecules are included. The number of adjustable parameters is limited to the normalization factor of the reaction rate constants for excitation by electrons, the degree of dissociation of oxygen at the nozzle exit, and to the relative number of singly charged ions for oxygen and argon along the axis. Electron temperature and density are measured experimentally, or obtained separately from another calculation. Then, the population density of any level can be obtained in any point of the free jet. The results are compared, on the axis, with those of three different experiments, and the agreement is quite satisfactory in any case.