KINETIC-STUDY OF THE EMISSION OF THE 1ST NEGATIVE SYSTEM IN AN ARGON-NITROGEN PLASMA AT ATMOSPHERIC-PRESSURE

Quantitative optical spectroscopy measurements of the emission spectra of the N2+(B2SIGMA(u), upsilon' --> X2SIGMA(g), upsilon'') transition (first negative system) in an Ar-N2 microwave discharge at atmospheric pressure have allowed determination of the rate coefficient of the production of N2+ molecules in the B2SIGMA(u) state with vibrational level upsilon = 0. The N2+(B2SIGMA(u), upsilon') molecules are produced by the reaction N2(X1SIGMA(g), upsilon greater-than-or-equal-to 12) + N2+ (X2SIGMA(g), upsilon'') --> K(upsilon'upsilon''(T)upsilon N2+(B2SIGMA(u), upsilon') + N2(X1SIGMA(g), upsilon) in a surface-wave-induced microwave discharge (2450 MHz) sustained in an open-ended dielectric tube. The rate coefficient K(upsilon'upsilon'')upsilon(T) has been obtained for upsilon' = upsilon'' = 0 for different gas temperatures by varying the incident microwave power.The K00(T) values are between 7.10(-10) and 4.10(-10) cm3 . s-1 for the temperature range 2500 to 3450 K.