Theoretical investigation of the effect of hydrogen addition on the formation and properties of soliton in direct current argon plasma

In this study the effect of hydrogen addition on the formation and properties of soliton in direct-current (DC) argon plasma is theoretically investigated. By coupling fluid equations with Poisons equation for such multi-component plasma, the Mach number and amplitude of the soliton are determined following pseudo potential method. Addition of hydrogen in argon discharge leads to the decrease of electron, Ar+ ion density while a reverse trend was observed for ArH+ and hydrogen like ions. It was found that presence of hydrogen like ions in argon plasma affects the formation of soliton with its amplitude significantly decreases as concentration of hydrogen increases. On the other hand, increase in ion to electron temperature ratios of the lighter ions in the discharge also has a significant influence on the amplitude and formation of soliton. The inverse relation between solitons width and amplitude is found to be consistent for the entire range of study. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.