Dynamics of pulse phenomena in helium dielectric-barrier atmospheric-pressure glow discharges

A study of pulse phenomena in conventional parallel-plate dielectric-barrier controlled atmospheric-pressure glow (DB-APG) discharges in helium is reported. Stable DB-APG discharges are found to occur at arbitrarily low frequencies as long as the gas voltage exceeds the Paschen breakdown voltage, i.e., no lower limit of similar to1 kHz exists for DB-APG operation. The interpulse preionization phenomenon is found to be an artifact of typical similar to10 kHz operation of DB-APG discharges and does not play a role in the formation of a stable pulse. Multiple pulses result from repeated temporally separated breakdown events in the discharge. A relatively simple zero-dimensional model that treats only the Paschen breakdown mechanism in the discharge and charge trapping phenomena at the dielectric surfaces can be used to simulate all important qualitative features of DB-APG phenomena. Finally, we show that control of the pulse intensity, number of pulses in a pulse train, and the time interval between pulse trains can be achieved using "ramp-plus-plateau" voltage input wave forms rather than typical sinusoidal wave forms. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.