Effects of inelastic collisions in low-temperature, diffusion-dominated discharges

A numerical iteration procedure has been used to obtain the solution of an integrodifferential (linear) equation which gives the energy distribution of the electrons of a low-temperature, diffusion-dominated discharge. The equation takes explicitly into account the effects of inelastic electron-neutral collisions. The results presented here have been obtained, as an instance, for helium and neon discharges, in presence of a static and uniform magnetic field.