Determination of transport and reaction swarm coefficients from the analysis of complex transient pulses from the pulsed Townsend experiment

Abstract

We present in this paper the interpretation and analysis of transient pulses from a pulsed Townsend experiment by solving the continuity equations of the charged carriers (electrons and ions) involved in the avalanche. The set of second order partial differential equations is solved by SIMAV, a simulator designed specifically for the pulsed Townsend avalanche. Complex situations involving processes such as electron detachment, ion-molecule reactions, Penning ionization and secondary electron emission from ion impact at the cathode, virtually impossible to solve analytically, are discussed here to illustrate the capability of the simulator to help explain the various reaction processes involved in the avalanche, and also to derive some of the transport and reaction coefficients.