Pulsed microwave-driven argon plasma jet with distinctive plume patterns resonantly excited by surface plasmon polaritons**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11105002 and 61170172), the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province, China (Grant Nos. 1408085QA16 and 1408085ME101), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2014M551788), and the Open-end Fund of State Key Laboratory of Advanced

Abstract

Atmospheric lower-power pulsed microwave argon cold plasma jets are obtained by using coaxial transmission line resonators in ambient air. The plasma jet plumes are generated at the end of a metal wire placed in the middle of the dielectric tubes. The electromagnetic model analyses and simulation results suggest that the discharges are excited resonantly by the enhanced electric field of surface plasmon polaritons. Moreover, for conquering the defect of atmospheric argon filamentation discharges excited by 2.45-GHz of continued microwave, the distinctive patterns of the plasma jet plumes can be maintained by applying different gas flow rates of argon gas, frequencies of pulsed modulator, duty cycles of pulsed microwave, peak values of input microwave power, and even by using different materials of dielectric tubes. In addition, the emission spectrum, the plume temperature, and other plasma parameters are measured, which shows that the proposed pulsed microwave plasma jets can be adjusted for plasma biomedical applications.