Water you waiting for? - A Complete and Consistent Set of Electron-H₂O Collision Cross Sections for Plasma Modelling

Although water is omnipresent in many plasma applications, often it is not taken into account in plasma

modelling, partially due to the lack of reliable and accessible cross sections. Electron-neutral collision cross

sections are optimised by the electron swarm method assuming isotropic inelastic collisions, yielding a complete

cross section set that is consistent with experiments [1] for use in space-homogeneous codes like common

two-term Boltzmann solvers [2]. The set is made available in the IST-Lisbon database on LXCat [3], giving the

community the immediate tools to develop more sophisticated plasma kinetics and chemistry models.

From there, the study is extended to anisotropic rotational collisions [4] and the set is benchmarked for use in

other codes like those considering electron density gradients or Monte Carlo simulations. In conclusion, the set

can be recommended based on a thorough quantitative analysis to improve plasma models and the understanding

of experiments.

References

[1] M. Budde, T. C. Dias, L. Vialetto, N. Pinhão, V. Guerra and T. Silva 2022 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. submitted

for publication

[2] A. Tejero-del-Caz, V. Guerra, D. Gonçalves, M. Lino da Silva, L. Marques, N. Pinhão, C. D. Pintassilgo

and L. L. Alves 2019 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 28 043001

[3] L. L. Alves 2014 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 565 012007

[4] L. Vialetto, A. Ben Moussa, J. van Dijk, S. Longo, P. Diomede, V. Guerra and L. L. Alves 2021 Plasma

Sources Sci. Technol. 30 075001