Diagnosis of Electronic Excitation Temperature in Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasmas at Atmospheric Pressure

The electronic excitation temperature of a surface dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） at atmospheric pressure has been experimentally investigated by optical emission spectroscopic measurements combined with numerical simulation. Experiments have been carried out to deter- mine the spatial distribution of electric field by using FEM software and the electronic excitation temperature in discharge by calculating ratio of two relative intensities of atomic spectral lines. In this work, we choose seven Ar atomic emission lines at 415.86 nm [（3s^23p^5）5p →（3s^23p^5）4s] and 706.7 nm, 714.7 nm, 738.4 nm, 751.5 nm, 794.8 nm and 800.6 nm [（3s^23p^5）4p → （3s^23p^5）4s] to estimate the excitation temperature under a Boltzmann approximation. The average electron energy is evaluated in each discharge by using line ratio of 337.1 nm （N2（C^3Пu →B3Пg）） to 391.4 nm （N2^＋（B2 ∑u^＋→ ∑g^＋））. Furthermore, variations of the electronic excitation tempera- ture are presented versus dielectric thickness and dielectric materials. The discharge is stable and uniform along the axial direction, and the electronic excitation temperature at the edge of the copper electrode is the largest. The corresponding average electron energy is in the range of 1.6- 5.1 eV and the electric field is in 1.7-3.2 MV/m, when the distance from copper electrode varies from 0 cm to 6 cm. Moreover, the electronic excitation temperature with a higher permittivity leads to a higher dissipated electrical power.

Measurement of electron density and electron temperature of a cascaded arc plasma using laser Thomson scattering compared to an optical emission spectroscopic approach

As advanced linear plasma sources, cascaded arc plasma devices have been used to generate steady plasma with high electron density, high particle flux and low electron temperature. To measure electron density and electron temperature of the plasma device accurately, a laser Thomson scattering（LTS） system, which is generally recognized as the most precise plasma diagnostic method, has been established in our lab in Dalian University of Technology. The electron density has been measured successfully in the region of 4.5？×10^19m^-3 to7.1？×10^20m^-3 and electron temperature in the region of 0.18 eV to 0.58 eV. For comparison,an optical emission spectroscopy（OES） system was established as well. The results showed that the electron excitation temperature（configuration temperature） measured by OES is significantly higher than the electron temperature（kinetic electron temperature） measured by LTS by up to 40% in the given discharge conditions. The results indicate that the cascaded arc plasma is recombining plasma and it is not in local thermodynamic equilibrium（LTE）. This leads to significant error using OES when characterizing the electron temperature in a non-LTE plasma.

Electronic Excitation Temperature in DC Positive Streamer Discharge

The electronic excitation temperature in a direct current positive streamer discharge based on ultra-thin sheet electrodes was measured by optical emission spectrometry in order to deposit materials for potential future applications. It was remarkable that the electronic excitation temperature （Text） did not vary monotonically with the discharge current, but demonstrated a peak at a certain position. In a mixture of oxygen and argon （80% oxygen）, the maximum Texc reached about 6300 K at an average current of 600 pA. Both the positive ions accumulation in the discharge region and the increase of the local temperature around the streamer channel caused by Joule heating are considered to be the main reasons for the variations of Texc.