Abstract
Analysis of the initial stage of the contraction of surface-wave-sustained discharges in a filamentary structure is presented in the study. The structure is formed in the pressure range p≅(1.3–3.9)×10 3 Pa and contains a few brighter gas-discharge channels (over a plasma background) which are located in the outer region of the discharge cross-section. It is shown that (i) the plasma background is sustained by an azimuthally symmetric wave within a local regime of charged-particle production and a non-local regime of electron heating in the wave field, and (ii) the formation of the filamentary structure is driven by electron heating simultaneously in surface-wave fields of azimuthally symmetric and azimuthally asymmetric (with different azimuthal mode numbers) waves within local regimes of both electron heating and charged-particle production. The mode number m>3 of the structure as well as the values of the gas temperature obtained agree with experimental observations in argon discharges. It is concluded that the discharge contraction is related to a mechanism of ionization-field instability, which is developed under the condition of an increased gas temperature.
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