MONTE-CARLO SIMULATION OF ELECTRON MOTION IN MERCURY-VAPOR

The motion of electrons in mercury vapour is traced using the Monte Carlo simulation for 10 less-than-or-equal-to E/N less-than-or-equal-to 2000 Td (1 Td = 10(-17) V cm2) by adopting a null collision technique. The momentum transfer cross sections for electron energy 0.05 less-than-or-equal-to epsilon less-than-or-equal-to 50 eV are obtained from the literature, and the excitation cross sections are derived as a function of electron energy to produce good agreement between the measured and calculated values of Townsend's first ionization coefficient. Electron swarm parameters, namely the drift velocity, ionization coefficient and mean energy have been calculated, and good agreement is obtained with published results over a wide range of E/N.