Elementary processes in alkali and alkali-rare gas plasmas

Despite decreasing interest in the investigation of alkali plasma properties in non-thermodynamic equilibrium conditions some progress has been made in increasing the knowledge of elementary processes in such plasmas. Part one of this review sums up the recently obtained results on elementary processes (involving neutral atoms and ions). Part two describes the statistical approach describing the macroscopic properties (electron temperature, electron density) of an alkali plasma taking into account various elementary processes. Good agreement between the measured values and the numerical model has been obtained for steady state (d.c. discharge) and non-steady state (afterglow) conditions. (V.P.)