Transport of neutral atomic hydrogen in a supersonic plasma jet

S. Mazouffre, M.G.H. Boogaarts, J.J.A.M. Mullen, van der, D.C. Schram

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In a supersonically expanding plasma jet created by a cascaded arc from an Ar-H2 mixt., spatially resolved densities, temps., and velocities of ground state at. hydrogen are obtained by applying two-photon excitation laser induced fluorescence. The axial velocity profile of H indicates a strong coupling between Ar and H atoms and it can be fully described in terms of a supersonic expansion model. However, whereas H atoms temp. profiles along the jet centerline clearly reveal the presence of a normal shock front, the at. hydrogen d. profiles do not. From the absence of a d. jump across the normal shock front, it is conclude that the at. hydrogen flux in the axial direction is not conserved. There are several indications that the coupling between H and Ar atoms is lost in the course of the expansion and that hydrogen atoms can escape the supersonic domain by a scattering process due to their large mean free path. [on SciFinder (R)]
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)348-359
JournalAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Volume891
Issue numberHeat and M
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1999

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