Global model for a nanosecond pulsed discharge in atmospheric N₂ with disorder induced heating

Recent findings have shown that in atmospheric pressure plasmas, ions become strongly correlated at high ionization fractions. This leads to disorder-induced heating (DIH), increasing ion temperature within picoseconds and subsequently heating the neutral gas via ion-neutral collisions on a nanosecond timescale. Traditional global models have focused predominantly on fast gas heating (FGH) mechanisms such as dissociation and quenching of molecular nitrogen. This work extends the modeling framework by incorporating DIH to investigate its role alongside other FGH mechanisms in nanosecond pulsed discharges in atmospheric nitrogen. It is found that DIH increases the temperature by 20% after reaching full ionization at initial atmospheric pressure and 60% at ten atmospheres. Furthermore, DIH can indirectly influence the electron temperature through ion-electron Coulomb collisions at large ionization fractions on a sub ns timescale. Hence, DIH can indirectly enhance the rate of electron impact inelastic processes. These results indicate that DIH could potentially have major implications in discharges at high pressures and should be included in global models for such conditions.