Modelling an Ar-Hg fluorescent lamp plasma using a 3 electron-temperature approximation

By using a 3 electron-group model to describe the deviation from a Maxwellian electron energy distribution, a collisional radiative model describing a low temperature Ar-Hg plasma is greatly improved. Previously, the ionisation mechanisms of such plasmas, commonly used in fluorescent lamps, could not be satisfactory modelled. Where using a Maxwellian electron energy distribution showed the production of argon ions to be dominating over the production of mercury ions, the 3 temperature approximation yields a mercury ionization rate which is 30 times larger than the argon ionization rate.