Modeling of gas discharge plasma

Abstract

The condition for the self-maintenance of a gas discharge plasma (GDP) is derived from its ionization balance expressed in the Townsend form and may be used as a definition of a gas discharge plasma in its simplest form. The simple example of a gas discharge plasma in the positive column of a cylindrical discharge tube allows demonstrating a wide variety of possible GDP regimes, revealing a contradiction between simple models used to explain gas discharge regimes and the large number of real processes responsible for the self-maintenance of GDP. The variety of GDP processes also results in a stepwise change of plasma parameters and developing some instabilities as the voltage or discharge current is varied. As a consequence, new forms and new applications of gas discharge arise as technology progresses.