Diagnosis of Electron, Vibrational and Rotational Temperatures in an Ar/N ₂ Shock Plasma Jet Produced by a Low Pressure DC Cascade Arc Discharge

In this paper, a low pressure Ar/N ₂ shock plasma jet with clearly multicycle al- ternating zones produced by a DC cascade arc discharge has been investigated by an emission spectral method combined with Abel inversion analysis. Plasma emission intensity, electron, vi- brational and rotational temperatures of the shock plasma have been measured in the expansion and compression zones. The results indicate that the ranges of the measured electron temperature, vibrational temperature and rotational temperature are 1.1 eV to 1.6 eV, 0.2 eV to 0.7 eV and 0.19 eV to 0.22 eV, respectively, and it is found for the first time that the vibrational and rota- tional temperatures increase while the electron temperature decreases in the compression zones. The electron temperature departs from the vibrational and the rotational temperatures due to non-equilibrium plasma effects. Electrons and heavy particles could not completely exchange energy via collisions in the shock plasma jet under the low pressure of 620 Pa or so.