Advances in simulations of moving striations in DC discharges of noble gases

We describe the results of two-dimensional self-consistent simulations of moving striations in DC discharges of noble gases for both diffuse and constricted plasma regimes. We use a fluid plasma model capturing key physics and change only one control parameter (volume recombination rate) to describe both the diffuse and constricted plasma. The newly developed implicit coupled plasma solver with an adaptive Cartesian mesh enables us to obtain for the first time the two-dimensional structure of the entire cathode-to-anode discharge and selfexcited nonlinear ionization waves in the constricted plasmas. The results are in agreement with the previously developed linear theory of striations in constricted discharges. Published under license by AIP Publishing.