Radiation-Temperature Measurements of the Nitrogen Afterglow Plasma

Measurements at microwave frequencies of the radiation temperature of a nitrogen afterglow plasma show that at early postdischarge times a secondary source of electron heating exists, and that microwave conductivity values calculated on the basis of a Maxwellian form for the electron velocity distribution function are anomalous. The evidence points to non-Maxwellian electron velocity distributions in the early afterglow.