Collisional–Radiative Electron–Ion Recombination Rate in Rare-Gas Plasmas

The minimum de-excitation rate of a recombining electron in the atom is calculated by using Gryzinski's formulation for the electron–atom collision process and Bates and Damgaard's Coulomb approximation for the radiative transition probability. The calculated minimum rate is taken to be the electron–ion collisional–radiative recombination rate. The electron–ion recombination rates are measured in a decaying plasma produced by a transient discharge. The comparison between the theoretical calculations and experimental results for five rare-gas (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) plasmas is presented.