Ignition Dynamics of Radio Frequency Discharge in Atmospheric Pressure Cascade Glow Discharge

Abstract The cascade glow discharge in atmospheric helium was excited by microsecond voltage pulse and pulse modulated radio frequency (RF) voltage, in which, the discharge ignition dynamics of RF discharge burst was investigated experimentally. The spatio-temporal evolution of discharge, the ignition time and optical emission intensities of plasma species of RF discharge burst are investigated under different time intervals between pulsed voltage and RF voltage in the experiment. The results show that by increasing the time interval between pulsed discharge and RF discharge burst from 5 μs to 20 μs, the ignition time of RF discharge burst is increased from 1.6 μs to 2.0 μs, and the discharge spatial profile of RF discharge in ignition phase is changed from a double-hump shape to the bell-shaped. The light emission intensity at 706 nm and 777 nm at different time intervals indicates that the RF discharge burst ignition of the depends on the amount of residual plasma species generated in the pulsed discharges.