Explanation of the memory effect in argon

Memory effect - the long time variation of the electrical breakdown time delay on the relaxation time td (τ) was observed in argon 24 hours after relaxation times and explained by the long-lived metastable states remaining from the preceding glow. However, the quenching processes reducing the effective lifetime of metastable states several orders of magnitude below that relevant for the time scale of observation were neglected. By applying approximate gas phase models it was found that the early afterglow kinetics up to hundreds of milliseconds is dominated by the decay of molecular argon ions Ar2+ and the approximate value of their ambipolar diffusion coefficient is determined. After that, nitrogen atoms present as impurities and recombined on the cathode surface and/or field emission determine the breakdown time delay down to the cosmic rays and natural radioactivity level