Numerical model of microwave-induced gas breakdown

Author

Bruner, N. ; Genoni, T. ; Hughes, T. ; Welch, D. ; Schulz, A. ; Cartwright, K.

Author_Institution

Mission Res. Corp., USA

fYear

2004

fDate

1-1 July 2004

Firstpage

334

Abstract

Summary form only given. When a microwave field is applied to a gas, free electrons present in the gas are accelerated by the electric field and undergo collisions with neutral atoms. Due to the elastic electron-neutral collisions, it is possible for some electrons to gain enough energy to reach the neutral gas ionization threshold and the density of free electrons can increase exponentially. We have developed a breakdown model for air and other gases near atmospheric density and implemented it in the AFRL code ICEPIC. We will describe the model and show what it predicts for the transmission and reflection of a microwave pulse by different gases over a range of field intensities.

Keywords

atom-electron collisions; electron density; electron impact ionisation; high-frequency discharges; ionisation; numerical analysis; plasma collision processes; elastic electron-neutral collision; electron density; free electron; microwave induced gas breakdown; microwave pulse reflection; microwave pulse transmission; neutral gas ionization threshold; numerical analysis; Algorithm design and analysis; Atmospheric modeling; Convergence; Electric breakdown; Electrons; Electrostatic analysis; Finite element methods; Gases; Numerical models; Space charge;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Plasma Science, 2004. ICOPS 2004. IEEE Conference Record - Abstracts. The 31st IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD, USA

ISSN

0730-9244

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8334-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PLASMA.2004.1340041

Filename

1340041