Abstract
Identification of gas impurities in helium by selective registration of groups of fast electrons created in Penning ionization of impurities atoms or molecules by metastable helium atoms at pressures of 7–40 Torr is realized. The collisional electron spectroscopy (CES) method is applied and is experimentally verified. Identification of impurities atoms and molecules is accomplished in collisional regime of movement of the particles, where the different groups of electrons have no time to relax in energy by collisions in the volume and behave independently of each other. An original design of microplasma gas analyzer is proposed, containing only nonlocal negative glow plasma of a short dc microdischarge. Registration of the energy spectra of penning electrons by means of an additional electrode-sensor, located at the boundary of the discharge volume is performed. The sensor has large collecting area compared to classical Langmuir probes, contributing to significant enhancement in the measurements sensitivity. Maxima in the EEDF are recorded in helium with small admixtures of krypton, argon and air. The obtained maxima appear at low discharge currents and at characteristic energies corresponding exactly to the expected maxima for penning electrons of the known gas impurities used. The gas analyser is compact, simple in technical performance, has high sensitivity and its size is dramatically reduced compared to the existing devices for gas analysis. This work is an approach to the development of microdischarge gas analyzers for gas impurities detection like poison gases, gas pollutions in the atmosphere or in the industry etc.