An analysis of the one-dimensional steady-state glow discharge

Neuringer's (1978) theoretical treatment of the cathode fall region of a high-voltage low-current gas discharge between plane parallel electrodes is generalised and extended to treat the whole of the discharge. The results are then adapted to provide a fast numerical technique for giving the variation of electric field and current density with distance. The variations obtained are in excellent agreement with those obtained by numerically integrating the relevant partial differential equations describing the discharge directly but the problem of numerical instability inherent in other methods of solution is avoided.