Development of Electron Impact Excitation and Ionization in Noble Gases and Liquids in Strong Electric Fields

This paper reports on establishing the electron energy distribution function and electron impact excitation and ionization rates in noble gases and liquids in strong electric fields. The method of the unsteady electron kinetic Boltzmann equation is used allowing for all the dense effects typical of the electron scattering at spatially correlated heavy particles. Account is also taken of the influence of the electron number density growth on the relaxation process. Some special features of the excitation and ionization processes in noble media are revealed. The respective electron impact rates have been calculated and the delay times for each the process determined. A paradoxical conclusion has been drawn about the electron multiplication rates in the media with extremely sharp increase in the momentum transfer frequency.