Formation and destruction of striation plasmas in helium glow discharge at medium pressures

The striation plasmas are usually generated within a positive column of glow discharge, where rich and complex physical interactions are involved, especially, in the medium or high pressures. Along these lines, our work aims to thoroughly investigate the formation and destruction of helium striation plasmas at kPa level pressures. The characteristics of the helium striation plasmas, and especially the optical emission properties are explored. The emission lines of 706.52 nm and 391.44 nm related to the energetic electrons and the high-energy metastable helium atoms respectively, were focused on in this work. The formation of striation plasmas in a helium glow discharge, is mainly associated with the instability originating from the stepwise ionization of high-energy metastable state atoms, Maxwellization of the electron distribution functions and gas heating. Additionally, the destruction effect of helium striation plasmas is of great significance when a small amount of nitrogen or oxygen is mixed into the discharge plasmas. The reduction of the mean electron energy and the consumption of the high-energy metastable helium atoms are considered as the underlying reasons for the destruction of striation plasmas.     

Electrical Characteristics of Pseudoglow Discharges in Helium under Atmospheric Pressure

A pseudoglow discharge behaviour is achieved at a 2.0-mm dielectric-dielectric electrode gap in pure helium under atmospheric pressure. An experimental study of the pseudoglow discharges is presented. The electrical characteristics and the discharge photos of the pseudoglow discharges are analyzed and discussed. The current-voltage parameters of the pseudoglow dis- charges are considered in regard to the influence on their behaviour.     

Simulation Study on the Self-Sustained Oscillations in DC Driven Glow Discharges at Atmospheric Pressure Under Different Gas Gaps

In this paper,a one-dimensional plasma fluid model is employed to study the selfsustained oscillations in DC-driven helium glow discharges at atmospheric pressure under different gas gaps.Our simulation results indicate that a harmonic current oscillation with tiny amplitude always occur at the onset of instability and transits into a relaxation one as the conductivity of the semiconductor is decreased.It is found that the dynamics of the oscillations are dependent on the gas gaps.The discharge can only exhibit a simple oscillation with unique amplitude and frequency at smaller gas gaps(2 mm) while it can exhibit a more complex oscillation with several different amplitudes and frequencies at larger gas gaps(2 mm).The discharge modes in these current oscillations have also been analyzed.     

Particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo simulation of filamentary barrier discharges

The plasma behavior of filamentary barrier discharges in helium is simulated using a twodimensional (2D) particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo model.Four different phases have been suggested in terms of the development of the discharge:the Townsend phase;the space-charge dominated phase;the formation of the cathode layer,and the extinguishing phase.The spatialtemporal evolution of the particle densities,velocities of the charged particles,electric fields,and surface charges has been demonstrated.Our simulation provides insights into the underlying mechanism of the discharge and explains many dynamical behaviors of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) filaments.     

Two-dimensional simulation and experiments of helium discharge between parallel-plate electrodes in short gaps at atmospheric pressure

ABSTRACT

Helium gas is used as the coolant in high temperature gas-cooled reactor while its insulation property is not good and brings big challenges to insulation design work. In this paper, breakdown voltages of two parallel-plate electrodes in millimeter-scale gaps at atmospheric pressure are calculated numerically with a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The Finite-Difference Flux-Corrected Transport method (FD-FCT) is used to avoid spurious oscillation caused by convection and diffusion restrictions. The simulation results are in good agreement with our experimental work. Different discharge characteristics are presented for a breakdown or a non-breakdown voltage. Importantly, when a breakdown is applied, ground-state ionization will make up the most in early stages while later accumulation of metastable atoms and molecules will prompt fractions of penning ionization to increase rapidly. It is predicted that penning ionization will eventually become comparable with ground-state ionization, especially near the anode, as the current density keeps increasing to order of 1 A. Some other simulation results are presented such as time evolutions of the distribution of electrons, ions, field strength and axial potential, etc. Attainment of these breakdown voltages and characteristics of helium discharge is going to help with insulation design work of electric equipment in reactor engineering.     

Current self-limitation in a transverse nanosecond discharge with a slotted cathode

A high-voltage transverse pulsed nanosecond discharge with a slotted hollow cathode was found to be a source of high-energy (few kV) ribbon electron beams.Conditions for the formation and extinction of electron beams were experimentally studied in discharges in helium at pressures of 1-100 Torr.It was found that interaction of fast electrons with a non-uniform electric field near the slotted cathode led to limitation of the magnitude of the discharge current.A physical model was developed to describe the discharge current self-limitation that was in satisfactory agreement with the experimental results.Some technical solutions that are expected to increase the upper current limits in transverse nanosecond discharge are discussed.     

Particle Densities of the Atmospheric-Pressure Argon Plasmas Generated by the Pulsed Dielectric Barrier Discharges

Atmospheric-pressure argon plasmas have received increasing attention due to their high potential in many industrial and biomedical applications. In this paper, a 1-D fluid model is used for studying the particle density characteristics of the argon plasmas generated by the pulsed dielectric barrier discharges. The temporal evolutions of the axial particle density distributions are illustrated, and the influences of changing the main discharge conditions on the averaged particle densities are researched by independently varying the various discharge conditions. The calculation results show that the electron density and the ion density reach two peaks near the momentary cathodes during the rising and the falling edges of the pulsed voltage. Compared with the charged particle densities, the densities of the resonance state atom Ar~r and the metastable state atom Ar~mhave more uniform axial distributions, reach higher maximums and decay more slowly. During the platform of the pulsed voltage and the time interval between the pulses, the densities of the excited state atom Ar*are far lower than those of the Ar~r or the Ar~m. The averaged particle densities of the different considered particles increase with the increases of the amplitude and the frequency of the pulsed voltage. Narrowing the discharge gap and increasing the relative dielectric constant of the dielectric also contribute to the increase of the averaged particle densities. The effects of reducing the discharge gap distance on the neutral particle densities are more significant than the influences on the charged particle densities.     

Influence of nitrogen impurities on the characteristics of a patterned helium dielectric barrier discharge at atmospheric pressure

In this paper, a two-dimensional axisymmetric fluid model was established to investigate the influence of nitrogen impurity content on the discharge pattern and the relevant discharge characteristics in an atmosphere pressure helium dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). The results indicated that when the nitrogen content was increased from 1 to 100 ppm, the discharge pattern evolved from a concentric-ring pattern into a uniform pattern, and then returned to the concentricring pattern. In this process, the discharge mode at the current peak moment transformed from glow mode into Townsend mode, and then returned to glow mode. Further analyses revealed that with the increase of impurity level, the rate of Penning ionization at the pre-ionization stage increased at first and decreased afterwards, resulting in a similar evolution pattern of seed electron level. This evolution trend was believed to be resulted from the competition between the N₂ partial pressure and the consumption rate of metastable species. Moreover, the discharge uniformity was found positively correlated with the spatial uniformity of seed electron density as well as the seed electron level. The reason for this correlation was explained by the reduction of radial electric field strength and the promotion of seed electron uniformity as pre-ionization level increases. The results obtained in this work may help better understand the pattern formation mechanism of atmospheric helium DBD under the variation of N₂ impurity level, thereby providing a possible means of regulating the discharge performance in practical application scenarios.     

The interaction of defects in titanium: A molecular dynamics study

Behaviors and properties of helium in titanium were explored by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation in this study. The influence of He number, vacancy number and He density (ratio of helium to vacancy) on the thermal stability of HenVm clusters (where n and m denote the number of He atoms and vacancies) were investigated. Meanwhile, interactions among He atoms, SIA atoms and vacancies were discussed. The results demonstrate that the binding energies of an interstitial helium atom primarily depend on He and vacancy numbers rather than the helium-to-vacancy ratio (n/m). It is different from the previous report of other researchers. The binding energies of an isolated vacancy and a self-interstitial titanium atom depend on both the number of helium atoms and the helium-to-vacancy ratio (n/m) of clusters. The thermal stability of clusters is decided by the competitive processes among thermal emissions of vacancy, SIA and helium atom.     

Numerical study on an atmospheric pressure helium discharge propagating in a dielectric tube: influence of tube diameter

In this work,a two-dimensional numerical simulation of the discharge characteristics of helium plasma propagating inside a dielectric tube was performed.A trapezoidal +9 kV pulse lasting 400 ns was applied on a needle electrode set inside the dielectric tube to ignite the discharge.The discharges generated in the tubes with a variable or a constant inner diameter were investigated.The focus of this study was on clarifying the effect of the tube diameter on the discharge structure and dynamics.The comparison of the discharge characteristics generated in dielectric tubes with different diameters was carried out.It was shown that the tube diameter plays a significant role in discharge behavior of plasma propagating in the dielectric tube.     

Experimental investigation on upstream and downstream discharges in airflows

Dielectric barrier discharge has widely used in airflow control, ignition and combustion, and other applications; the influence of airflow on dielectric barrier discharge is of extensive concern. Previous studies demonstrate that the discharge becomes more uniform and the discharge intensity decreases with increasing of airflow velocity. In this study, we adopt a discharge cell construction with upstream and downstream structure and study the discharge states and intensities. The experimental results demonstrate that within a specific range of airflow speed, the upstream discharge intensity is decreased, and the downstream discharge intensity is enhanced. The physical basis for this phenomenon is proposed as follows: Within a pulse interval time, some particles, such as charged and metastable particles produced by the upstream discharge, could be transported to the downstream region. The concentration of particles in the downstream region is increased, and these particles play a pre-ionization role in the downstream discharge, the intensity of the downstream discharge is enhanced. Further, factors such as the pulse frequency and the distance between electrodes are discussed in detail, along with the conditions for enhancing downstream discharge intensity.     

Atomistic simulation of helium bubble nucleation in palladium

A palladium crystal has been constructed with 11808 atoms. 55 helium atoms occupied the octahedral position of palladium crystal are introduced and retained in a spherical region. Molecular dynamic simulations are performed in a constant temperature and constant volume ensemble (NVT) with temperature controlled by Nose-Hoover thermostat. The interactions between palladium atoms are described with modified analytic embedded atom method (MAEAM), the interactions between palladium atom and helium atom are in the form of Morse potential, and the interactions between helium atoms are in the form of L-J potential function. With the analysis of the radial distribution function (RDF) and microstructure, it reveals that some of helium atoms form a series of clusters with different size, and the nucleation core is random at low temperature, and which is the embryo of helium bubble. Increasing temperature can accelerate the process of bubble nucleation, and the clusters will aggregate and coalesce into a bigger one in which there are no palladium atoms, and it is considered as a helium bubble.     

The Nonlinear Behaviors in Atmospheric Dielectric Barrier Multi Pulse Discharges

An in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the complex nonlinear behaviors in atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge is significant for the stable operation and effective control of the plasma. In this paper, we study the nonlinear behaviors in argon atmospheric dielectric barrier multi pulse discharges by a one-dimensional fluid model. Under certain conditions, the multi pulse discharge becomes very sensitive with the increase of frequency, and the multi pulse period-doubling bifurcation, inverse period-doubling bifurcation and chaos appear frequently. The discharge can reach a relatively steady state only when the discharges are symmetrical between positive and negative half cycle. In addition, the effects of the voltage on these nonlinear discharges are also studied. It is found that the amplitude of voltage has no effects on the number of discharge pulses in multi-pulse period-doubling bifurcation sequences; however, to a relatively stable periodic discharge, the discharge pulses are proportional to the amplitude of the applied voltage within a certain range.     

Measurement ofHe2* density with an auxiliary measuring electrode in atmospheric pressure plasma jet

In this study, the density of metastable He₂* in an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet operating in helium with 0.001% nitrogen has been measured using an auxiliary measuring electrode technique. In the glow discharge mode, waveforms from two grounding electrodes, including one main discharge electrode and one auxiliary electrode, are captured. The isolated current peak formed by Penning ionization in waveforms from the auxiliary measuring electrode is identified to calculate the density of metastable He₂*. In our discharge environment, the helium metastable densities along the jet axis direction are between 2.26× 10¹³ and 1.74× 10¹³ cm^-3, which is in good agreement with the results measured by other techniques. This measurement technique can be conveniently applied to the diagnosis of metastableHe₂* in an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet array.     

Numerical Simulation for Metastable States' Deexcitation in Electron Beam Evaporation Process

A direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method was modified in order to analyze the evaporation process in atomic vapor laser isotope separation (AVLIS), whereby energy transfer between discrete energy levels of metastable states and continuous energy level of translation took place. The atomic excitation temperatures of gadolinium atom were calculated for the model in five low-lying states. Calculation results were compared with those of the experiments obtained by laser absorption spectroscopy. Two types of DSMC simulations which were different in inelastic collision procedures were carried out. It was concluded that the energy transfer was forbidden unless the total energy of the colliding atoms exceeded a threshold value. It was also found that the DSMC method is suitable for treating deexcitation of metastable states accompanied by rapid expansion in the AVLIS evaporation process.     

Two-Dimensional Simulation of Spatial-Temporal Behaviors About Period Doubling Bifurcation in an Atmospheric-Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge

As a spatially extended dissipated system, atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharges （DBDs） could in principle possess complex nonlinear behaviors. In order to improve the stability and uniformity of atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharges, studies on tem- poral behaviors and radial structure of discharges with strong nonlinear behaviors under different controlling parameters are much desirable. In this paper, a two-dimensional fluid model is devel- oped to simulate the radial discharge structure of period-doubling bifurcation, chaos, and inverse period-doubling bifurcation in an atmospheric-pressure DBD. The results show that the period-2n （n = 1, 2... ） and chaotic discharges exhibit nonuniform discharge structure. In period-2n or chaos, not only the shape of current pulses doesn＇t remains exactly the same from one cycle to an- other, but also the radial structures, such as discharge spatial evolution process and the strongest breakdown region, are different in each neighboring discharge event. Current-voltage characteris- tics of the discharge system are studied for further understanding of the radial structure.     

Effect of actuating voltage and discharge gap on plasma assisted detonation initiation process

The influence of actuating voltage and discharge gap on plasma assisted detonation initiation by alternating current dielectric barrier discharge was studied in detail.A loose coupling method was used to simulate the detonation initiation process of a hydrogen–oxygen mixture in a detonation tube under different actuating voltage amplitudes and discharge gap sizes.Both the discharge products and the detonation forming process assisted by the plasma were analyzed.It was found that the patterns of the temporal and spatial distributions of discharge products in one cycle keep unchanged as changing the two discharge operating parameters.However,the adoption of a higher actuating voltage leads to a higher active species concentration within the discharge zone,and atom H is the most sensitive to the variations of the actuating voltage amplitude among the given species.Adopting a larger discharge gap results in a lower concentration of the active species,and all species have the same sensitivity to the variations of the gap.With respect to the reaction flow of the detonation tube,the corresponding deflagration to detonation transition(DDT) time and distance become slightly longer when a higher actuating voltage is chosen.The acceleration effect of plasma is more prominent with a smaller discharge gap,and the benefit builds gradually throughout the DDT process.Generally,these two control parameters have little effect on the amplitude of the flow field parameters,and they do not alter the combustion degree within the reaction zone.     

Numerical Modelling and Simulation of Chemical Reactions in a Nano-Pulse Discharged Bubble for Water Treatment

A zero-dimensional model to simulate a nano-pulse-discharged bubble in water was developed.The model consists of gas and liquid phases corresponding to the inside and outside of the bubble,respectively.The diffusions of chemical species from the gas to the liquid phase through the bubble interface was also investigated.The initial gas is Ar,but includes a little H_2O and O2 in the bubble.The time evolution of the OH concentration in the liquid phase was mainly investigated as an important species for water treatment.It was shown that OH was generated in the bubble and then diffused into the liquid.With the application of a continuous nano-pulse discharge,more OH radicals were generated as the frequency increased at a low voltage for a given power consumption.     

Modeling of a DC glow discharge in a neon–xenon gas mixture at low pressure and with metastable atom densities

The physical properties of Ne–Xe DC glow discharges at low pressure are reported for a gap length of 1 cm for the first time in the literature. The model deals specifically with the first three moments of Boltzmann's equation and includes the radiation processes and metastable atom densities. The spatio-temporal distributions of the electron and neon and xenon ion densities, the neon and xenon metastable atom densities, the electric potential and the electric field as well as the mean electron energy are presented at 1.5 Torr and 250 V. The current–voltage characteristic is shown at 3 Torr, and it is compared with previous work for pure neon gas. The model is validated theoretically and experimentally in the case of pure gas.     

Formation of honeycomb-Kagome hexagonal superlattice pattern with dark discharges in dielectric barrier discharge

A honeycomb-Kagome hexagonal superlattice pattern with dark discharges is observed in a dielectric barrier discharge system for the first time. The spatiotemporal structure of the honeycomb-Kagome hexagonal superlattice pattern with dark discharges is investigated by an intensified charge-coupled device and the photomultipliers show that it is an interleaving of three different sub-lattices, which are bright-spot, invisible honeycomb lattice, and Kagome lattice with invisible frameworks and dim-spots, respectively. The invisible honeycomb lattices and Kagome lattices are actually composed of dark discharges. By using the optical emission spectra method, it is found that the plasma parameters of the three different sub-lattices are different. The influence of the dark discharges on pattern formation is discussed. The results may have significance for the investigation of the dark discharges and will accelerate the development of self-organized pattern dynamics.