Аннотация:A nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharge initiated in a quartz capillary tube filled with
a flowing N2:O2 mixture, is used as a platform to investigate the depopulation mechanisms of
the N2(C3Pu, v = 0) state of molecular nitrogen, at conditions of high specific energy
deposition. The effect of a variable energy deposition is investigated by varying the tube
diameter, and the total transmitted current. Upon increase of the specific deposited energy,
it is found that, in pure nitrogen, an additional collisional depopulation mechanism appears, and dominates radiative decay and quenching by ground state N2 molecules, when the
specific deposited energy is large enough. The possible nature of this process is discussed.