Computation and measurement of the fluorescent infrared radiation from glow discharges in CO2-N2-He gas mixtures

The emission of 4.3 ?m infrared fluorescent radiation from aglow discharge has been measured in six gas mixtures of varying proportions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and helium. The results have been given as a radiation efficiency (ratio of radiation energy to the input electrical energy) and have been measured as a function of E/N (ratio of electric field to gas number density). A comparison has been made between the experimental results and the theoretical values for the range 3 × 10?21 < E/N < 56 × 10?21 Vm2. A good agreement has been obtained which verifies the calculated rates of vibrational excitation and confirms that relaxation processes are dominant for the E/N range investigated.