Drift Velocity, Longitudinal and Transverse Diffusion in Hydrocarbons derived from Distributions of Single Electrons

Abstract

A time of flight method is described which allows the simultaneous measurement of drift velocity w and the ratios of the longitudinal and transverse diffusion coefficients to mobility (DL/JL, DT/JL) of electrons in gases. The accuracy achieved in this omnipurpose experiment is comparable with that of specialised techniques and is estimated to be ±1 % for w and ±5% for the D / JL measurements .. Results for methane, ethane, ethene, propane, propene and cyclopropane for values of E/N (the electric field strength divided by the number density) ranging from 0·02 to 15 Td are presented and discussed (1 Td = 10-21 Vm2 ).