Electrical double layers at shock fronts in glow discharges and afterglows

Abstract

This paper examines the propagation of spark-generated shockwaves (1.0<Mach<2.0) into argon and nitrogen glow discharges and their afterglow. Diagnostic methods were employed and expanded in order to capture the dynamics of the shock front in these weakly-ionized, nonmagnetized, collisional plasmas. We used a microwave hairpin resonator to measure the electron number density, and, for all cases, we measured an increase in the electron number density at the shock front. By comparing the increase in electron number density at the shock front in the active discharge and in the afterglow, we conclude that electrons with a temperature much greater than room temperature can be compressed at the shock front. The ratio of electron number density before and after the shock front can be approximately predicted using the Rankine–Hugoniot relationship. The large gradient in electron density, and hence a large gradient in the flux of charged species, created a region of space-charge separation, i.e., a double layer, at the shock front. The double layer balances the flux of charged particles on both sides of the shock front. The double layer voltage drop was measured in the current-carrying discharge using floating probes and compared with previous models. As well, we measured argon 1s5 metastable-state density and demonstrate that metastable-state neutral species can be compressed across a shock front and approximately predicted using the Rankine–Hugoniot relationship.