Plasma Kinetics in Atmospheric Gases

The book Plasma Kinetics in Atmospheric Gases is a worthwhile contribution to the basic phenomena in nitrogen, oxygen and other atmospheric gases. It contains basic introductory chapters on relaxation in translational, rotational (short) and vibrational (extensive) distribution and on the physics of electron excitation and electron distribution functions. In the latter, electron beam excitation (i.e. high electron energies) are included. In the following chapters, much detail follows on spectroscopic constants of various molecules, molecular fragments and ions, on transport coefficients such as diffusion coefficients, relaxation times and rates. The transfer between translational energies and rotational and vibrational energies are treated in this context. Many (electron) excitation rates, electronic lifetimes and rates for chemical reactions for molecules, fragments and ions are given. The background part of the book is completed with an introductory chapter on wall reactions and accommodation coefficients. In this way an enormous wealth of data for nitrogen-, oxygen- and hydrogen-containing molecules can be found in this book.