ELECTRON BOLTZMANN-EQUATION IN NONTHERMAL PLASMAS

Numerical and analytical solutions of the electron Boltzmann equation in two-temperature steady-state helium plasma are studied in a broad range of conditions (5000 K less-than-or-equal-to T(a) less-than-or-equal-to 20 000 K, 10 000 K less-than-or-equal-to T(e) less-than-or-equal-to 20 000 K; 10(10) cm-3 less-than-or-equal-to N(a) less-than-or-equal-to 10(18) cm-3). The WKB analytical solution is found to be satisfactory in most situations. The deviation of the electron distribution from Maxwellian and a possibility of raising of the tail of the distribution is also discussed.