Comparisons of sets of electron–neutral scattering cross sections and swarm parameters in noble gases: II. Helium and neon

This paper is the second of a series of four reports, describing work carried in 2011 in the context of the Plasma Data Exchange Project with the Gaseous Electronics Conference, devoted to intercomparisons between different sets of electron–neutral scattering cross sections from ground-state noble gas atoms, in the energy range from thermal to about 1 keV. The present work compares cross section sets for helium and neon, determined independently, which are available on the open access LXCat website ( www.lxcat.laplace.univ-tlse.fr/ ). The cross sections are used as input data in an electron Boltzmann solver or in Monte Carlo simulations, to calculate different swarm parameters (transport parameters and rate coefficients). The calculated quantities are compared with measurements to assess the quality of the cross sections in providing data for modelling low-temperature plasmas or analysing experiments. The paper includes several appendices prepared by co-authors to the work, presenting details on how the various cross section datasets were compiled or evaluated.