Nonlinear Dynamics of Atmospheric-Pressure Helium Diffuse Dielectric Barrier Discharge in a Two-Parameter Plane

Abstract

Dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs), as a complex dynamical system, usually contain several control parameters. Using two control parameters, air impurity content (50–5000 ppm) and applied voltage (1–3 kV), the nonlinear behavior of atmospheric-pressure helium-air impurity DBDs is investigated in a two-parameter plane. Combining time series, phase-space trajectory, Poincare map, fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectrum, power spectral density, and the largest Lyapunov exponent, the existence of nonlinear behavior, especially chaotic (CH) behavior, is fully confirmed in the time domain, frequency domain, and phase-space domain. Under the two-parameter plane, the results show that the effect of the low air impurity can be ignored when the applied voltage reaches a certain level, and the CH discharge is more likely to occur when the two control parameters increase roughly in proportion. Furthermore, the increase in air impurity content will result in the formation of multipulse discharge.