Dissociative volume recombination coefficient measurements in a subroom temperature neon plasma afterglow

A new apparatus for measuring reaction rate coefficients in gaseous plasmas at low temperature is presented. The apparatus consists of a shock tube in which the plasma is generated and the plasma diagnostics are made in the expansion region of the tube. The plasma is generated by means of a R.F. pulse. Diagnostics are primarily made by double and triple electrostatic probes. Peliminary results for the gas temperature dependence of the dissociative volume recombination coefficient of neon in a temperature range of 135 K to 250 K are discussed. The results indicate that the gas temperature dependence is greater than Tsub(g)sup(-1/2) in this temperature range. This is in apparent contradiction with the results of Kasner (1968) and of Cunningham and Hobson (1969). (author)