Study on the characteristics of atmospheric pressure plasma jetsoperated by nanosecond pulses

Abstract

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets are one of the atmospheric pressure plasma source types which make the plasma discharges as plume shapes by the high voltage on the directional gas flow. The pulsed operation of the atmospheric pressure plasma jet has some advantages with low heat and high energy efficiency. Normally, atmospheric pressure pulsed plasma jets are operated by the pulses with microsecond range width. The phenomena on the nanosecond pulsed operation of atmospheric pressure plasma jets has not been studied much. We have studied the characteristics of atmospheric pressure plasma jets operated by nanosecond pulses. The experiments are carried out mainly using Optical emission spectroscopy. We have focused on the two conditions, the source structure, and the signal of the power feeding. Consequently, the effect of the electrode configuration and dielectric characteristics on the plasma jet parameters are studied. Moreover radical production characteristics depending on the pulse signals were analyzed in both chemical simulation and experiment. The shape and the material of dielectric tube used in the plasma jet can change the plasma density and the impedance of the source. Using the longer pulse, we can generates more radicals by achieving high electron temperature and its life time in a plasma jet discharge.