Impact excitation of neon atoms by heated seed electrons in filamentary plasma gratings.

We demonstrate impact ionization and dissociative recombination of neon (Ne) atoms by means of seeded-electron heating and subsequent electron–atom collisions in an ultraviolet plasma grating, allowing for a substantial fraction of the neutral Ne atomic population to reside in high-lying excited states. A buffer gas with relatively low ionization potential (nitrogen or argon) was used to provide high-density seed electrons. A three-step excitation model is verified by the fluorescence emission from the impact excitation of Ne atoms.