Abstract

Cyclic or chainlike inelastic collision processes are invoked as an hypothesis to explain the grossly non-thermodynamic properties of energetic carbon and gas-fed carbon arcs confined by magnetic fields. Elastic collisions between the fast electrons (v₋ > v₊ but E₋ ≪ E₊) and the hot ions appear to be only about one-tenth as efficient a process for heating the ions as the proposed multiple inelastic collision process, which we call excitation-heating. In addition, a revised treatment of the rate of energy transfer from hot carbon ions to the very cold electrons (v₋ < v₊) reduces the conventional ion cooling rate by a factor of about 6.

© 1966 Optical Society of America

Erratum: On the Possibility of Excitation Heating of Ions to High Temperatures

J. Rand McNally
Appl. Opt. 5(3) 423-423 (1966)

Excitation and Ionization Rates of Neon Ions in a Stellarator Discharge

Einar Hinnov
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(9) 1179-1188 (1966)

Spectroscopic Line-Profile Studies of Long Magnetically Confined High-Current, Steady-State Vacuum Arcs

J. R. McNally and M. R. Skidmore
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Collisional Excitation Transfer Between the P2₁₂ and P2₃₂ Levels in Alkali Atoms

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