Evaluation of State-Resolved Reaction Probabilities and Their Application in Population Models for He, H, and H2

Population models are a prerequisite for performing qualitative analysis of population densities measured in plasmas or predicting the dependence of plasma emission on parameter variations. Models for atomic helium and hydrogen as well as molecular hydrogen in low-pressure plasmas are introduced. The cross-sections and transition probabilities used as input in the atomic models are known very accurately, and thus a benchmark of these models against experiments is very successful. For H2, in contrast, significant deviations exist between reaction probabilities taken from different literature sources. The reason for this is the more complex internal structure of molecules compared to atoms. Vibrationally resolved models are applied to demonstrate how these deviations affect the model results. Steps towards a consistent input data set are presented: vibrationally resolved Franck–Condon factors, transition probabilities, and ionization cross-sections have been calculated and are available now. Additionally, ro-vibrational models for selected transitions are applied successfully to low-density, low-temperature plasmas. For further improving the accuracy of population models for H2, however, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive data set for ro-vibrationally resolved excitation cross-sections based on the most recent calculation techniques.