Electron energy distribution functions in carbon monoxide discharge and post-discharge conditions: The role of superelastic electronic collisions from CO(A3Π) state

The influence of superelastic electronic collisions from the metastable CO(A3Π) state on the electron energy distribution functions (EDF’s) of CO in both discharge and post-discharge conditions has been studied by solving the Boltzmann equation with different concentrations (cm) of CO(A3Π). The results show that the role of CO(A3Π) becomes more important as the reduced electric field (E/N) is lowered. Very small concentrations of CO(A3Π) (cm ≂ 10−7) are sufficient to affect EDF in the post-discharge regime (E/N=0). Superelastic electronic collisions are such that they create different plateaus in EDF, each one spaced approximately every 6.2 eV, which represents the energy threshold of the metastable electronic state.