The high-frequency electric field required to maintain a hydrogen plasma has been measured as a function of pressure and plasma electron density. A theory of the plasma based on a solution of the Boltzmann transport equation has been developed to predict this field; it agrees satisfactorily with experiment. The theory has no adjustable parameters, and uses only the probabilities of collision, excitation, and ionization of the gas by electrons, and the ionic mobility.

• Received 13 January 1955

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.98.310