Time-resolved measurements of electron number density in argon and nitrogen plasmas sustained by high-voltage, high repetition rate, nanosecond pulses

Weakly ionized plasmas in argon and nitrogen in a parallel-plate electrode configuration at a gas pressure of several Torr were sustained by repetitive nanosecond pulses with the pulse repetition frequency sufficiently high to ensure that the plasma does not fully decay between the pulses. In order...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Plasma sources science & technology 2018-10, Vol.27 (10), p.10
Main Authors: Podolsky, Vladlen, Khomenko, Andrei, Macheret, Sergey
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
electron thermalization
electron-ion recombination
high repetition frequency
high voltage nanosecond pulse
low temperature plasma
microwave interferometry
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Weakly ionized plasmas in argon and nitrogen in a parallel-plate electrode configuration at a gas pressure of several Torr were sustained by repetitive nanosecond pulses with the pulse repetition frequency sufficiently high to ensure that the plasma does not fully decay between the pulses. In order to measure the electron number density decay in the afterglow of each pulse, a custom-constructed 58.1 GHz homodyne microwave interferometer was used. Initial analysis of the measured electron density decay indicates that dissociative recombination with molecular and cluster ions was the dominant electron loss mechanism for both gases, and that the electron thermalization was significantly faster than the decay of their density. The plasma with low electron temperature between the pulses could potentially be used to reduce the Johnson-Nyquist thermal noise in plasma antennas.
ISSN:0963-0252
1361-6595
1361-6595
DOI:10.1088/1361-6595/aae35e