高气压氩气辉光放电条纹等离子体的形成和演化

Formation and evolution of striation plasma in high-pressure argon glow discharge

辉光放电等离子体正柱区内的自组织条纹现象是气体放电物理中的基础性问题,涉及电子动力学、输运过程、放电不稳定性、非线性现象等丰富的物理内容,是基础物理及其应用中备受关注的重要课题.本文报道了一种在千帕量级气压下产生的氩气辉光放电条纹等离子体,重点关注了条纹等离子体的电学、光学及电离波传播特征,从物理上分析了氩气条纹等离子体的产生及消除机制.研究结果表明,在此气压下产生的氩气条纹等离子体,其条纹长度约为1.5 mm,且随气压减小;电离波波速为1.87 m/s,频率为1.25 kHz.发射光谱诊断证实,条纹等离子体的产生与丰富的亚稳态原子密切相关,亚稳态原子导致的分步电离过程会引起电离不稳定性,这种不稳定性以电离波的形式传播,使得等离子体参数发生纵向调幅,从而形成明暗相间的条纹等离子体.加入氮气可有效猝灭亚稳态氩原子,调整电子能量分布函数,这使得等离子体的不稳定性条件被破坏,因此,条纹等离子体消失.本工作可为人们进一步认识和理解高气压下辉光放电条纹等离子体的形成及消除机制提供新的思路和实验依据.

The self-organized striation phenomenon in the positive column region of glow discharge plasma is a basic problem in gas discharge physics, which involves rich physics such as electron dynamics, transport process,discharge instability and nonlinear phenomenon. It is an important topic in basic physics and practical application. In this work an argon glow discharge striation plasma at high pressure is reported. The electrical,optical and ionization wave propagation characteristics of the striation plasma, and the evolution of the striation plasma with pressure and impurity gas are investigated experimentally. The generation and quenching mechanism of argon striation plasma are analyzed. The results show that the striation length is about 1.5 mm,and decreases with pressure increasing, and the velocity and frequency of the ionization wave are estimated at1.87 m/s and 1.25 kHz, respectively. The measurement of optical emission spectrum shows that the generation of striation plasma is probably related to the argon metastable atoms. The stepwise ionization process caused by metastable atoms triggers off an ionization instability. The instability propagates in the form of ionization wave,which leads the plasma parameters to be modulated longitudinally, thus, forming an alternating bright and dark striation plasma. The adding of nitrogen can effectively quench metastable argon atoms and change the electron energy distribution function, which destroys the instability conditions of the plasma, therefore, the striation plasma disappears. This work provides a new insight into the understanding of the formation and annihilation mechanism of glow discharge striation plasma at high pressure.