Role of molecular ions in plasmas of atmospheric and energetic interest
Résumé
Molecular ions often play a very important role in plasmas. The electron energy distribution function (eedf ) and density (ne ) are influenced by the reactions of molecular ions with electrons. We bring these aspects into focus by studying successively the following situations: We show that the dissociative recombination of Ar+ 2 allows to understand the measured characteristics of an argon supersonic plasma flow where the electron density is low. Afterwards, we show the dominating role of NO+ in the chemistry of a space vehicle atmospheric re-entry air plasma. Finally, by using the Boltzmann equation in order to show the influence of molecular ions such as NO+ in air plasmas on the eedf, we comment on the common assumption of Maxwell-Boltzmann equilibrium for this distribution.