Numerical simulation of the multi-pulse phenomena in atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier glow discharges in He/N2 mixture

To further understand the formation mechanism of multi-pulse phenomena in atmospheric He/N-2 dielectric barrier glow discharge, the influence of nitrogen content on the multi current pulse phenomena is studied by a one-dimensional plasma fluid model. As nitrogen content increases, the first discharge current in the multi-pulse glow discharge becomes larger, and the gas gap voltage drop and the charges transported during the first discharge pulse are also increased, leading to the decrease of subsequent discharge current. When the increasing applied voltage cannot overcome the gas gap voltage drop in the first discharge pulse, the multi-pulse discharge mode will transit into a single pulse discharge mode. The numerical simulation results also show that the changes of discharge characteristics are mainly attributed to the Penning ionization between molecules of nitrogen and metastable atoms of helium.