NON-MAXWELL ELECTRON ENERGY DISTRIBUTION AND RADIATION OF NONEQUILIBRIUM NITROGEN PLASMAS.

Experimental and theoretical studies are made to investigate the effect of non-Maxwell electron energy distribution on radiative properties of nonequilibrium nitrogen plasmas. In the theory, balance equations which are based on a simplified collisional and radiative model and electron energy distribution computed from a Boltzmann equation are solved numerically to obtain population densities. It is found that the theoretical populations at the excited levels are strongly dependent on electron energy distribution and vibrational temperature of the molecules and that the experimental and theoretical populations agree reasonably with each other.