Monte Carlo analysis of field-dependent electron avalanche coefficients in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure
Abstract
Calculations of electron impact ionization of nitrogen gas at atmospheric pressure are presented based on the kinetic Monte Carlo technique. The emphasis is on energy partitioning between primary and secondary electrons, and three different energy sharing schemes have been evaluated. The ionization behavior is based on Wannier's classical treatment. Our Monte Carlo results for the field-dependent drift velocities match the available experimental data. More interestingly, the field-dependent first Townsend coefficient predicted by the Monte Carlo calculations is shown to be in close agreement with reported data for E/N values ranging as high as 4000 Td, only when a random assignment of excess energies between the primary and secondary particles is used.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2017
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.5004995
Entities
People
- Andreas Neuber
- H. K. Nguyen
- J. Dickens
- John Mankowski
- R. P. Joshi
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Texas Tech University