Temperature-induced negative differential conductivity

Abstract

We report on the existence of temperature induced negative differential conductivity (NDC) for electrons in gaseous nitrogen. The important role of superelastic rotational collisional processes in this phenomenon is highlighted. A model cross-section set, utilised to ensure an accurate treatment of superelastic processes and achieve thermal equilibrium is detailed, and used to illustrate the role of de-excitation processes in NDC. The criterion of Robson [1] for predicting the occurance of NDC using only knowledge of the collisional cross-sections is utilised for both the model system and N_{2}. We also report on the impact of anisotropy in the very low threshold scattering channels on the transport coefficients, examine the Frost-Phelps finite difference collision operator for the inelastic channel, in particular its neglect of recoil, and assess other assumptions utilised in existing Boltzmann equation solvers. We discuss the numerical challenges associated with low reduced electric field calculations, and detail an alternative representation of the elastic and inelastic collision operators used in Boltzmann equation solutions that enforce conservation of number density. Finally, new experimental measurements of the drift velocity and the Townsend ionisation coefficient for an electron swarm in are reported from a pulsed Townsend experiment. The self-consistency of the utilised cross-sections is also briefly assessed against these results.