Determination of First Townsend Ionization Coefficient by Simulation

  • N. Crossette
  • , T. G. Jenkins
  • , J. R. Cary
  • , J. Leddy
  • , D. N. Smithe

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

In 1963, L. M. Chanin and G. D. Rork [Phys. Rev. 133, A1005 (1964)] [1] measured the first Townsend ionization coefficient for various gases and a range of pressures experimentally in a vacuum tube. A Townsend discharge is an ionization avalanche that occurs between two electrodes when secondary electron emission caused by ion impact on the cathode is negligible. The first Townsend coefficient, α, is essentially a measure of how many ionization events a single electron will cause when subject to a uniform electric field. In this study, we reproduce the experimental setup of Chanin and Rork's device in VSim [C. Nieter and J. R. Cary, J. Comp. Phys. 196, 448 (2004)] [2], a highly parallelized particle-in-cell/finite-difference time-domain code. Various particle interactions are included, and the first Townsend coefficient is calculated and compared to the reported value.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2019 IEEE Pulsed Power and Plasma Science, PPPS 2019
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781538679692
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2019
Event2019 IEEE Pulsed Power and Plasma Science, PPPS 2019 - Orlando, United States
Duration: Jun 23 2019Jun 29 2019

Publication series

NameIEEE International Pulsed Power Conference
Volume2019-June
ISSN (Print)2158-4915
ISSN (Electronic)2158-4923

Conference

Conference2019 IEEE Pulsed Power and Plasma Science, PPPS 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityOrlando
Period06/23/1906/29/19

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