Measurement of Volume Recombination Coefficients in Highly Ionized Alkali Plasmas

The recombination coefficients in highly-ionized cesium and potassium plasmas have been determined from measurements of the atomic flux emerging from the plasma column. The experiment was performed in the transition region between two-body and three-body recombination, at $T=2500\mathrm{}°$K and with density between 2× ${10}^{10}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{-3\mathrm{}}$ and 2× ${10}^{12}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{-3\mathrm{}}$. The measured recombination coefficients followed the theory due to Bates, Kingston, and McWhirter within a factor of 2.