Abstract
The effects of nitrous oxide (N_2O) in nitrogen (N_2) on the development and morphology of sine-driven dielectric barrier discharges in a single-filament arrangement were studied. Detailed insight in the characteristics of the discharge and its development were obtained from electrical measurements combined with ICCD and streak camera recordings as well as numerical modelling. A miniaturised atmospheric pressure Townsend discharge (APTD) could be generated for admixtures up to 5 vol% N_2O in N_2 although N_2O is an efficient collisional quencher of metastable nitrogen molecules. Increasing the high voltage amplitude led to a transition into a hybrid mode with the generation of an intermediate filament in addition to the diffuse, non-constricted APTD. A time-dependent, spatially one-dimensional fluid model was applied in order to study the underlying mechanisms causing the diffuse discharge characteristics. It was found that even for small N_2O admixtures, the associative ionisation of atomic nitrogen and oxygen (O + N(^2P) rightarrow NO^+ + e) is the major electron source sustaining the volume memory effect and is therefore the reason for the formation of a diffuse APTD.Graphical abstract
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