Vibrational Excitation of N 2 (B, C) and N + 2 (B) States in N 2 and N 2 – H 2 Flowing Microwave Discharges

The ro‐vibrational spectra of N 2 microwave discharges have been analysed by emission spectroscopy. It is deduced the rotational and vibrational temperatures of N 2 states. The characteristic of vibrational temperature Θ 1 of the N 2 (X, v) ground state has been specifically determined.It has been found that the N 2 (C, B, v') and N + 2 (B, v') radiative states are directly excited by electron collisions on the N 2 (X,v) ground state at a N 2 gas pressure of 0.1 Torr (discharge tube of 5 mm I.D, microwave power 100 Watt) with a Θ 1 value near 10 4 K. At higher gas pressure up to 5 Torr, the N 2 (C, v') states remain alone to be mainly excited by electron collisions on N 2 (X, v). It is considered the excitations of the N 2 (B, v') states by collisions of electrons and N 2 (X,v > 4) vibrational molecules on the N 2 (A) metastable states.With x < 9% H 2 into N 2 , it is observed an increase of N 2 , 2 nd pos intensity, resulting of an increase of high energy electrons. Inversely, the N 2 , 1 st pos intensity decreased, partly following the decrease of low energy electrons (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)