Determination of the electron concentration and temperature, as well as the reduced electric field strength, in the plasma of a high-voltage nanosecond discharge initiated in atmospheric-pressure nitrogen by a runaway electron beam

We report on the results of spectroscopic measurements of electron concentration N (e) and temperature T (e) , as well as the reduced electric field strength E/N in the plasma of a high-voltage nanosecond discharge in the gap with a strongly nonuniform electric field distribution, which is filled with nitrogen under the atmospheric pressure. The possibility of using the method for determining T (e) and E/N, which is based on the determination of the ratio of the peak intensities of the ionic N (2) (+) (lambda = 391.4 nm) and molecular N-2 (lambda = 394 nm) nitrogen bands, is proved. We detected the mean values of quantities N (e) , T (e) , and E/N amounting to similar to 2 x 10(14) cm(-3), similar to 2 eV, and similar to 240 Td, respectively. In addition, the dynamics of these quantities is determined.