Temporal evolution of atmospheric cascade glow discharge with pulsed discharge and radio frequency discharge

Atmospheric cascade discharges with pulsed discharge and radio frequency(RF)discharge were experimentally investigated by the temporal evolution of discharge spatial profile and intensity.The indium tin oxide(ITO)coated glass was employed as the transparent electrode to capture the discharge distribution above the electrode surface.It is demonstrated that in the pulsed discharge with dielectric barrier,the first discharge at the rising edge of pulse voltage is uniformly ignited and then forms an expanding plasma ring on the ITO electrode surface,which shrinks to the same diameter as that of bare stainless steel electrode with the generation of second discharge at the falling edge of pulse voltage.The discharge profiles along the electrode surface and discharge gap of the successive RF discharge are dependent on the intensity and spatial distribution of residual plasma species generated by the pulsed discharge,which is determined by the time interval between the pulsed discharge and RF discharge.It is demonstrated that the residual plasma species before the RF discharge ignition help to achieve the stable operation of RF discharge with elevated intensity.

Numerical simulation of atmospheric pulsemodulated radio-frequency glow discharge ignition characteristics assisted by a pulsed discharge

A one-dimensional self-consistent fluid numerical model was developed to study the ignition characteristics of a pulsc-tmxlulated(PM)radio-frequency(RF)glow discharge in atmospheric helium assisted by a sub-microsecond voltage excited pulsed discharge.The temporal evolution of discharge current density and electron density during PM RF discharge burst was investigated to demonstrate the discharge ignition characteristics with or without the pulsed discharge.Under the assistance of pulsed discharge,the electron density in RF discharge burst reaches the magnitude of 1.87 x 1017-3m within 10 RF cycles,accompanied by the formation of sheath structure.It proposes that the pulsed discharge plays an important role in the ignition of PM RF discharge burst.Furthermore,the dynamics of PM RF glow discharge arc demonstrated by the spatiotcmporal evolution of the election density with and without pulsed discharge.The spatial profiles of electron density,electron energy and electric field at specific time instants arc given to explain the assistive role of the pulsed discharge on PM RF discharge ignition.