Atmospheric pressure glow discharge in neon

Abstract

The dielectric barrier discharge burning at atmospheric pressure usually has a filamentary non-homogeneous form. However, it was found that uniform dielectric barrier discharge can be generated in helium, nitrogen and in the mixture of argon with acetone under specific conditions. Such uniform discharge is called atmospheric pressure glow discharge (APGD). We studied dielectric barrier discharge burning in neon at atmospheric pressure and we found that the APGD can also be generated in neon. We measured the electrical characteristics of APGD in neon for different voltages and frequencies of power supply and different gas flows. We found that higher gas flow stabilizes the APGD and we determined the area of parameters in which the APGD burns. The images of discharges were recorded by a video camera and emission optical spectra were measured by a spectrometer. The properties of the discharges in neon were compared with the properties of discharges burning in argon and in the mixture of neon with argon.