THE ROLE OF H(N = 2) IN H ATOM PRODUCTION IN HIGHLY DISSOCIATED HYDROGEN PLASMAS

In highly dissociated hydrogen plasmas the imprisonment of resonance radiation can significantly increase the effective lifetime of the n = 2 state to such an extent that gas phase collision involving H(n = 2) become important. Under these conditions the excitation of the H-2(3SIGMA(u)) repulsive state which leads to H atom production occurs with a higher probability through excitation transfer collisions between H (n = 2) and ground state H-2 than through direct electron impact collisions with ground state H-2.