RADIAL MEASUREMENTS OF GAS DISCHARGE PARAMETERS OF ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE MICROPLASMA

Abstract

In this work Abel inversion technique was used for radial measurements of the microplasma in Ar-2%H2 flow at open atmosphere. The gas discharge parameters were investigated using spatially resolved high resolution optical emission spectroscopy (OES) to allow acquisition of OH (A 2Σ+, ν = 0 →X 2Π, ν′ = 0) rotational bands at 306.357 nm, Ar I 603.213 nm line and N2(C3∏u, ν = 0 →B3∏g, ν′ = 0) second positive system with the band head at 337.13 nm. The nonthermal plasma was generated between microhollow anode (~500 μm inner diameter) and a cathode copper foil, fed by direct current source for a current ranging from 20 mA to 100 mA (Townsend discharge from 20 mA to 30 mA, normal glow discharge from 30 mA to 80 mA at 210 V and abnormal discharge beyond 90 mA). The 1.5 mm length cylindrical-shape plasma has an outspread bright disk (negative glow region) near the cathode surface. Besides the gas temperature, the excitation temperature was measured radially for a current ranging from 20 mA to 100 mA, either from Boltzmann-plot of Ar I 4p – 4s and 5p – 4s transitions of excited argon or from Cu I two lines method of excited cuprum atoms released from the cathode surface. The measurements showed a nearly bell-shaped distribution of these temperatures, peaked at 120 μm from the center with the minimum at the plasma border. The average excitation temperature was about ~8000 K (maximum ~10,000 K) and the average rotational temperature was about 650 K (maximum ~800 K) from 20 K to 100 K. For the N2 second positive system with Δν = -2 it was estimated the vibrational temperature for the bright disk (1500 K to 5000 K). Hβ line Stark broadening was employed to define the electron number density of the negative glow (1015 cm -3).