Plasma breakdown behavior of hydrogen azide (HN3) gas mixtures

Recent work on electron beam initiated plasma studies has shown that HN3 is a strong electron attaching molecule. In an attempt to better understand the plasma transport properties of this particular azide gas, the electrical breakdown behavior of HN3 was investigated. There was a marked difference in the breakdown phenomena for different pressures of buffer gases. With HN3 pressures of a few torr mixed with an atm. of inert gas, the plasma breakdown constituency of the original species is retained. In pure hydrogen azide gas, its breakdown creates a chain chemical reaction producing very intense N2 first and second positive band emission. In addition, such a breakdown causes the molecular constituency of the gas to change from HN3 to only H2 and N2, as determined by a mass spectrograph. Upon completion of the plasma initiated chain reactions, a factor of two pressure increase is always observed due to the stoichiometry of the pertinent reactions. The transient spectral behavior elucidates the kinetic processes occurring in this gas. The effect of gas temperature on the kinetics of this system is discussed. The implication of such plasma breakdown processes on potential hybrid electro-chemical lasers is described