Modeling of an axially inhomogeneous microwave argon plasma column at a moderate pressure

In this article, we present theoretical results for axial distributions of charged particles and excited atoms in an axially inhomogeneous microwave sustained argon plasma column at a pressure of 1.8 Torr. The model includes two self-consistently linked parts-electrodynamic and kinetic ones. It is found that the electron temperature is not a constant along the column length. The dependence of the mean power required for sustaining an electron-ion pair in the discharge on the electron number density is obtained taking into account different elementary processes. The theoretical results are in agreement with the available experimental data. (C) 1998 American institute of Physics.