Theory of a stationary microwave discharge with multiply charged ions in an expanding gas jet

Resumo

The formation of a jet of a nonequilibrium multiply charged ion plasma is studied in the inhomogeneous gas jet. It is shown that the geometrical divergence of the jet restricts the maximum ion charge state and results in the spatial localization of the discharge. Stationary solutions corresponding to such regimes are constructed. The model proposed can be used to optimize modern experiments on generation of hard UV radiation due to the line emission of multiply ionized atoms in a gas jet heated by high-power millimeter and submillimeter radiation.