Stability of very-high pressure arc discharges against perturbations of the electron temperature

Abstract

We study the stability of the energy balance of the electron gas in very high–pressure plasmas against longitudinal perturbations, using a local dispersion analysis. After deriving a dispersion equation, we apply the model to a very high–pressure (100 bar) xenon plasma and find instability for electron temperatures, Te, in a window between 2400 K and 5500-7000 K, depending on the current density (106–108 A/m2). The instability can be traced back to the Joule heating of the electron gas being a growing function of Te, which is due to a rising dependence of the electron-atom collision frequency on Te. We then analyze the Te range occurring in very high–pressure xenon lamps and conclude that only the near-anode region exhibits Te sufficiently low for this instability to occur. Indeed, previous experiments have revealed that such lamps develop, under certain conditions, voltage oscillations accompanied by electromagnetic interference, and this instability has been pinned down to the plasma-anode interaction. A relation between the mechanisms of the considered instability and multiple anodic attachments of high-pressure arcs is discussed.