The Effect of a Longitudinal Magnetic Field on the Radiation of Glow Discharge in Helium

The effect of a longitudinal magnetic field on the radiation of a glow discharge in helium is investigated experimentally. It is demonstrated that, with pressures in the discharge chamber below approximately 140 Pa, the intensity of radiation of spectral lines of helium and of continuous spectrum increases by a factor of 200–300 under the effect of a magnetic field. So strong an increase in the radiation of glow discharge in helium is observed in the region where no electric field of discharge is present. An attempt is made at attributing the obtained result to the decrease in the ambipolar diffusion of electrons to the wall; this brings about an increase in the density and temperature of electrons which start exciting metastable states of helium.__________Translated from Teplofizika Vysokikh Temperatur, Vol. 43, No. 4, 2005, pp. 516–525.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by I. M. Ulanov and A. Yu. Litvintsev.