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Updated: Dec 17, 2025

Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry
Published on: August 1, 2017
X-ray heating and electron temperature of laboratory photoionized plasmas
R C Mancini1, T E Lockard1, D C Mayes1
1Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA.
Abstract:
We discuss the experimental and modeling results for the x-ray heating and temperature of laboratory photoionized plasmas. A method is used to extract the electron temperature based on the analysis of transmission spectroscopy data that is independent of atomic kinetics modeling. The results emphasized the critical role of x-ray heating and radiation cooling in determining the energy balance of the plasma. They also demonstrated the dramatic impact of photoexcitation on excited-state populations, line emissivity, and radiation cooling. Modeling calculations performed with astrophysical codes significantly overestimated the measured temperature.
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