Dynamics of heating of weakly ionized plasma in a self-consistent electric field

The dynamics of heating of a weakly ionized plasma in a pulsed discharge with allowance for the back reaction of the currents excited in the plasma on the field is analyzed on the basis of a kinetic equation with the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) model elastic collision integral. It is shown that the nature of the heating depends essentially on the ratio of the frequency of elastic collisions of an electron with neutrals and the plasma frequency. Analytic expressions for the dynamic electron distribution function and its moments are obtained. The limits of applicability of the approximation used are determined.