Numerical simulation of streamer propagation in oxygen

Glow discharges are being used in many fields of application. For the improvement of performance in these applications, it is necessary to understand discharge dynamics experimentally and numerically. In this paper, a Monte Carlo simulation is carried out in oxygen (O-2) in uniform electric fields. The electron motion and avalanche growth are simulated by tracing individual paths, and the technique also accounts for the effect of the rapid spatial and temporal space charge variations by solving the Poisson equation. The streamer propagation, electron, positive and negative-ion distribution, and space charge fields are studied in detail as time increases.