Study of a neon dc column plasma by a hybrid method

The column plasma of a dc glow discharge in neon is comprehensively studied by a new self-consistent hybrid method. The method is based on the solution of the steady-state fluid equations of charge carriers and the Poisson equation using electron transport coefficients and ionization frequencies which arise from a space-dependent kinetic treatment of the electron component. The column description comprises, in addition, a space-dependent treatment of the excited particles in the plasma, the treatment of the plasma-wall interaction processes of the charge carriers and the determination of the electric field. The hybrid method provides a very efficient self-consistent column description although it avoids rough approximations often applied in fluid methods. Results of the method for a neon column plasma are compared with those of probe measurements and spectroscopic studies. The results confirm the importance of the ionization of excited neon atoms for the charge carrier production and emphasize the necessity of the detailed description of the excited states included in the column model.