Electron-driven processes in high-pressure plasmas

This review article summarizes results from selected recent studies of collisional and radiative processes initiated and driven by low-energy electron interactions with atoms and molecules in high-pressure plasmas. A special emphasis of the article is on spectroscopic studies of plasmas used as sources for non-coherent vacuum ultraviolet radiation such as rare excimer emissions and atomic and molecular emissions from plasmas in admixtures of rare gases and the molecular gases H-2 and N-2. An attempt is made to correlate the various observed emission features and their dependence on the plasma operating parameters (pressure, power, gas mixture, mode of excitation, etc.) to the underlying microscopic atomic and molecular processes.