Electronic ground state OH(X) radical in a low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma jet

Abstract

The wide applicability of atmospheric pressure plasma jets in biomedicine stems from the presence of reactive nitrogen and oxygen species generated in these plasma jets. Knowing the absolute concentration of these reactive species is of utmost importance as it is critical, along with the particle flux obtained from the plasma feed gas flow rate to ensure that the correct dosage is applied during applications. In this study, we investigate and report the ground state OH(X) number density acquired using cavity ringdown spectroscopy, along the propagation axis (z-axis) of a cold atmospheric pressure helium plasma plume. The jet was generated by a repetitively pulsed mono-polar square wave of duration 1 μs running at a frequency of 9.9 kHz. The voltage supplied was 6.5 kV with the helium flow rate fixed at 3.6 standard liters per minute. The rotational and vibrational temperatures are simulated from the second positive system of nitrogen, N2(C3πu−B3πg), with the rotational temperature being spatially constant at 300 K along the propagation axis of the atmospheric pressure plasma jet while the vibrational temperature is 3620 K at the beginning of the plume and is observed to decrease downstream. The OH(A) emission intensity obtained via optical emission spectroscopy was observed to decrease downstream of the plasma jet. The OH(X) number density along the propagation axis was initially 2.2 × 1013 molecules cm−3 before increasing to a peak value of 2.4 × 1013 molecules cm−3, from which the number density was observed to decrease to 2.2 × 1013 molecules cm−3 downstream of the plasma jet. The total OH(A, X) in the plasma jet remained relatively constant along the propagation axis of the plasma jet before falling off at the tip of the jet. The increase in vibrational temperature downstream and the simultaneous measurements of both the excited state OH(A) and the ground state OH(X) reported in this study provide insights into the formation and consumption of this reactive oxygen species while also providing a reference for determining the radical number density dosage for future cold plasma irradiation studies.