The drift and diffusion of potassium ions in nitrogen

Abstract

Measurements of the drift velocity and lateral diffusion of positive potassium ions in nitrogen at room temperature (290-300°K) are reported for values of E/N (E is the electric field strength in v cm⁻¹, N the gas number density in cm⁻³) up to 320×10⁻¹⁷ v cm². The zero-field reduced mobility of the ions was found to be 253±002 cm²v⁻¹s⁻¹, the mobility of the ions increasing above E/N = 30×10⁻¹⁷ and decreasing above E/N = 220×10⁻¹⁷. The ions are shown to have remained within 5% of thermal equilibrium with the gas molecules for E/Nless, similar25×10⁻¹⁷. The variations of drift velocity and lateral diffusion with E/N are compared with other available data.