Non-equilibrium ionisation of molecular hydrogen in electrical discharges

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Abstract
Ionisation rates of molecular hydrogen in electrical discharges have been calculated by solving a system of vibrational master equations coupled to the Boltzmann equation for the electron energy distribution function. The influence of vibrational excited molecules on the ionisation rate can overcome up to a factor of 10 the corresponding contribution coming from the ground vibrational level of H2(X1 Sigma g) due to the fact that electron-vibration and vibration-vibration energy exchanges populate the vibrational levels of H2 and that the ionisation cross-sections of the process e+H2(X1 Sigma g, nu ) to e+H2+(2 Sigma g)+e present threshold energies decreasing with increasing vibrational level nu . A complete set of ionisation cross-sections (for all vibrational levels) has been calculated by using Gryzinski's theory and the Franck-Condon principle.