Method of Analysis of Ion Swarm Experiments

Means are presented for analyzing the data and estimating the values of parameters of interest in certain kinds of ion swarm experiments by use of maximum likelihood estimators. Means are also presented for estimating the fluctuations in the estimates of the parameters and several other statistics which are produced by the statistical fluctuations of the ion populations themselves. Methods are discussed for using these estimates to judge the appropriateness of the model hypothesized for both the ion transport process and the functioning of the experimental equipment. The use of the maximum likelihood methods in connection with several different initial ion distributions and several possible experimental geometries, is explored. The application of these methods to data from actual experiments involving the ions N+ and N2+ in nitrogen is discussed.