Population of excited atomic states and ionization in a nonequilibrium low-pressure cesium plasma

Abstract

A system of nonlinear algebraic equations is found for the population of the 20 lowest cesium levels in a nonequilibrium low-pressure plasma, with an account of many elementary processes. The system of equations is solved on a computer. A comparison of the results with the experimental data in the literature shows satisfactory agreement. The solution yields, in addition to the level populations, the ionization coefficient and the density of molecular cesium ions. It is shown that the ionization yield under these conditions is maximal at the 6P_3/2 level, thereafter falling off rapidly, so that the 20 lowest levels are responsible for essentially the entire ionization yield, and neglect of the other levels does not cause an error in the calculated ionization coefficient.