Influence of Atom-Atom Collisions on the Population Densities of Excited Atomic Levels

Abstract

Abstract The number densities of excited hydrogen atoms in a non-thermal plasma have been calculated on the basis of a coupled system of rate equations (25 levels) in which one accounts for electron-atom and atom-atom collisions. The calculated population densities depend strongly on the neutral particle density na when ne/na≪1. When the electron temperature, Te, is different from the gas temperature, Tg , the number densities of the excited levels are determined by Tg rather than by Te. This is important in connection with the quantitative spectroscopy of plasmas.