Electron Transport in a Dilute Weakly Ionized Gas Application to a Model Ionosphere.
Abstract
The author presents a kinetic model for the electron distribution function in micro-space in a dilute, nonuniform, weakly ionized gas. The model includes photoproduction of electron-ion pairs, electron-ion recombination, and elastic, inelastic, and ionizing electron-neutral collisions. Under special conditions exact solutions are found for the steady-state electron velocity spectrum in a uniform, infinite medium for a delta-function photon energy source, and for an exponentially decreasing photon energy source. Also presented is a general method for finding the electron distribution function in a plane-parallel medium where the neutral gas density varies exponentially with position. The method is applied to give an approximation to the electron-ion concentration, the electron-ion drift velocity, and the electron temperature for a model ionosphere at altitudes where the assumption of weak ionization is valid. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 27, 1973
- Accession Number
- AD0775088
Entities
People
- John R. Jasperse
Organizations
- Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories