Experimental verification of a zero-dimensional model of the kinetics of XeCl* discharges by Xe*-, Cl*-, Ne*-, and H*-density measurements

Abstract

Absorption spectroscopic measurements of effective particle number densities of excited Xe, Ne, Cl, and H performed on a small scale discharge with well-defined current and voltage pulses are compared with the results of model calculations over a wide range of discharge parameters. The reaction kinetic pathways determining the ionization and dissociative attachment rates have been verified by the good agreement obtained during the quasi-steady-state phase of the discharge for Xe and H. To reproduce the rise times of the excited Xe particle number densities during the ignition phase, the electron collision excitation cross sections of ground state Xe published by Puech and Mizzi [1] had to be enhanced by about 25%. From the Ne measurements it is concluded that the electron collision excitation cross sections of ground state Ne published by Puech and Mizzi [1] may be too large near the threshold. Measurements of excited Cl particle number densities are unsuitable to check the attachment kinetics of HCl, because these densities are mainly determined by reactions not involving the formation of Cl⁻ ions.