Theoretical study of pulsed microwave discharge in nitrogen

A pulsed microwave discharge burning in pure nitrogen was studied theoretically. The time-dependent Boltzmann equation for electrons was solved numerically in multi-term approximation. It was assumed that the discharge was ignited by a 100kW microwave (f = 9.4GHz) pulses with 2.5 mu s duration; the repetition frequency was 400 Hz. It was shown that the electron distribution function approaches very quickly the steady state distribution function after a change of the amplitude of electric field intensity. The steady state time averaged values of electron mean energy, C diffusion and rate coefficients and drift velocity were calculated for different values of electric field intensity. With these values the actual values of electric field intensity from a previous experiment were determined from the measured time dependence of electron concentration. The calculated values were compared with previous experimental results.